Frozen Heart
by bloodrosered
Summary: Army brat Colleen O'Shea was best friends with Jack Frost as a child; once a believer in the Guardians. Now she's a hardened sergeant in the Army. Jack Frost decides to pay a visit to his former playmate and let the fun back in her. Pitch returns to threaten the world again. T for now (Please pardon construction)
1. Prologue

**_BURGESS, PA-1990s_**

_It was a snow day and school was closed. Jack Frost walked on a picket fence, pleased with his wintery work he had done to the place and snow still continued to fall from the cloud covered sky. __The white, cold particles touched the ground, creating a thick blanket as they layered up. _

_He heard a door open to the house to which the fence belonged and watched an eight-year-old __girl walk off the porch. She had blonde hair plaited into pigtails, wearing a winter coat, knitted green mittens and a matching scarf, and navy blue boots. An elderly, yet spritely woman emerged from the house soon after the girl. _

_Just as the girl was about to skip to the playground down the street, her grandmother stopped her. Neither of them noticed Jack Frost striding gracefully on the picket fence, his staff over his shoulders. __He __watched the girl and her grandmother talking._

_"Y'don't want Jack Frost t' be nippin' at yer nose, do ye?" she said in a heavy Irish brogue, pulling the Irish knit hat on her granddaughter's blonde head._

_"He doesn't nip it, Gramma," the girl said, moving a loose strand of hair away from her face. "He kisses it." _

_"O'course he does," laughed her grandmother. "Especially pretty girls like ye. Now go and have fun. Be safe out there. Don't talk to strangers." _

_The little girl nodded and went down the street to the playground._

_"Kiss the nose?" Jack laughed lightly. "Haven't heard that one yet." _

_He decided to follow the young girl as she went to the street. He floated with the wind, a trail of snowflakes fluttered down in his wake.__  
_

_The girl sighed in a bit of boredom and disappointment as she kicked the fresh snow on the ground. She was happy it was a snow day, yet she felt out of place and lonely. It was another day in a new town, __knowing well enough that nobody was going to play with her. It seemed every time she settled down, it was time to move again. Leaving friends. Leaving home. Starting over. It wasn't fair._

_Well, that was the life of an Army brat. _

_Plus her Daddy was away again overseas. The only good thing about moving was her grandmother came with her; she t__ook care of her while her Daddy was away. _Though she was old, she still played with the girl, telling her stories and encouraged her active imagination. 

_Still it wasn't fair that they had to move all the time, often in short periods of time, staying put for three to four years tops. She__ felt it wasn't good enough that her Daddy wasn't home. Though he called when he could, telling that he missed her and loved her._

_As she walked down the street towards the playground, she passed some shops and paused for a moment to look at the toys for Christmas in the windows. She __sighed, knowing it was going to be a lonely holiday this year. There was nothing in the whole toy store she wanted. There was only one thing she wanted a__nd she asked for it every year. Just for Daddy __to come home._

___Of course, if there was that miracle that he did come home, she would be overwhelmed with joy. ____Most of the time, it was disappointing. ____The Army chaplain and the Family Readiness Group counselor told her the same thing: i__t was the duty for soldiers to put their country first before family. But that didn't mean her Daddy didn't love her. Yes, her Daddy did love her. Though she wondered if it was true or not since he wasn't the same since Mom died. He was so distant and buried himself in work.  
_

_Jack Frost watched the girl and decided to have his own type of fun. With a wave of his staff, he used the wind to blow snow at her from behind. She shivered as the cold wind and snow blew up from behind her, making her pigtails flutter._

_"Stupid wind!" she grumbled. "Wish you would behave yourself!"_

_Jack chuckled, enjoying the reaction of the girl to his pranks. He decided to have the wind stop, as if it was listening to her. There was a gentle breeze every so often, but it wasn't too bad. __  
_

_She began singing Christmas songs until she heard 'The Christmas Song' being played in one of the stores. It was her favorite song of all. She sang a sort-of made rendition of it...  
_

**_Chestnuts roasting on an open fire_**

**_Jack Frost kissing your nose..._**

_"She sounds nice when she sings," Jack said, noticing as he continued to follow the girl. _

_He was interested in her for some reason. Perhaps it was her imagination, maybe her spirit. Yet, there was a touch of loneliness in her. He decided to have some more fun with her, sailing on the wind to the tree at the playground. He landed light-footed on the lowest branch, creating ice in his wake and watched the girl. _

_Upon arriving at the playground, the girl kept singing 'The Christmas Song', __walking past the tree. She __almost bumped into something that was hanging from a branch. All she saw was a pair of __ice-chip blue eyes..._

_"Whoa! Hey!__" said an impish __voice that belonged to the eyes; cold breath tickled the flesh of her nose._

_The girl let out a startled scream, tripping over her own two feet and fell backwards in the snow._

_"What the FUDRUCKERS?!" she yelled, her Irish knit hat fell over her eyes._

___She heard light laughter. She sat up and__ fixed her hat, looking where she had seen those eyes. _

_____Instead of eyes, there was a boy hanging_ upside-down from the tree branch by his knees. _She had never seen a boy like this before! __He reminded the girl of a sprite or a fairy that her grandmother had told her in many of her Irish stories. __He looked like a teenager, maybe. He was so pale and lithe. His tousled hair was the color of freshly fallen snow and his face was filled with impish playfulness. He wore a blue hoodie sweatshirt that appeared to be frosted in some places. His faded brown trousers looked tattered and he was barefoot! She wondered if he was cold, especially on a day like this._

_Jack Frost was surprised by the girl's reaction. And it was funny too, watching her take a spill like that. He wondered if she could see him. He __figured he'd talk to the girl anyway as if she could. He didn't expect a response. He never thought anyone would reply to him whenever he spoke to them._

_The girl watched as the strange boy did an agile __acrobatic flip off the tree branch, landing gracefully in the snow on his feet. He grabbed up a wooden shepherd's crook staff that was leaning against the tree. It turned a frosted blue when he touched it. _

_"Are you OK? You gotta be more careful out there," Jack said. "Don't want to see you buried in all this snow." _

___He he_ld out a hand towards her as an offer to help her up out of the snow. The girl just sat there, frozen, staring_ dumbfounded at the boy with wide evergreen eyes_. _She moved aside strands of loose blonde hair that had escaped from her plaited braids. She blinked her eyes a few more times, rubbed them to be sure what she was seeing...just a minute ago, that branch was empty. _

_After hearing no response from the girl, Jack Frost sighed in disappointment, __pulling his hand away and leaped up__ on the branch with a whoosh of the wind__, __realizing that she probably didn't need his help. He was used to not getting an answer. Even then, it still seemed to upset him a bit. He just wished someone would notice him. A friend._

_"Um..." the girl said hesitantly, trying to process. "Where did you come from? You just came out of nowhere! You scared me."_

_Jack perked up in surprise when he heard the reply. _

_"Wait," he said, ignoring her question. "You can see me?!" He asked excitedly. He couldn't believe someone could ACTUALLY see him._

_The girl furrowed her brow when he asked such a question. He was standing right there, clear as daylight. _

_"Yes," said the girl. _

_"So wait..." He leaped off the branch, walking towards the girl. He had pure excitement all across his face. "You believe in me?"_

___She raised an eyebrow. What did the boy mean by believe in him? ____________S______he guessed he was like the Easter Bunny, Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman: one had to believe in them in order to see them. Yet, she never saw any of them. The boy was right here like a normal person would be. _

_____"Well, if I can see it or touch it, then yes. I believe it's real," the girl answered._

_The feeling Jack felt was hard to explain, but it was bursting throughout his body of everlasting happiness and exhilaration. _

_"You believe in Jack Frost then?" he asked._

_She recalled 'The Christmas Song' she was singing earlier and t__he stories about him that her grandmother told her. __Oh! So this had to be..._

_"Jack Frost?" she said. "You're real?"_

_He nodded excitedly, __his blue eyes were near tears and his face had the widest smile filled with joy._

_"That's me!" he said._

_"Funny, I expected you to be an old man...that's what Gramma said at least," the girl said. "She referred to you as 'Old Man Winter' who would frost the green fields of her homeland." _

_He shook his head in amusement __at the girl's statement, the very idea of being an old man!_

_"No way. I'm all about having fun," he said. "Snowballs and all. Messing up the Easter Kangaroo's plans for Easter by covering up the place with snow. All that kind of stuff. I think it would be hard to have some type of fun as an old man."_

_Easter Kangaroo? the girl thought. She guessed he meant the Easter Bunny._

_"Oh!" she said. "Guess I'll have to tell her that you're as young as, um, freshly fallen snow then."_

_"Freshly fallen snow? That works. Better than being considered old." He nodded with agreement._

_"And you know the Easter Bunny?" the girl said. "If you see him, tell him I want no eggs or gifts this year. Just to bring my Daddy home."_

_"Alright. If I see him, I'll let him now," Jack Frost promised her. He would keep that promise too. After pausing a moment as he heard this unusual request. "Hey, where is your daddy anyways if he's not home?"_

_He listened as the girl told him about her Daddy: he was a lieutenant in the Army and always away or they had to move all the time. She had no friends from all the moving. And that it wasn't fair, but she had to be understanding because his duty to his country came first. _

_"That sounds upsetting," he said with a slight frown. _

_"It is," she said sulkily. "And I know the chaplain tells me that Daddy loves me, but I wish that were true though. He hasn't been the same since Mom died. And he hates winter." She brightened a bit. "I like it though. That means no school and snow fun and Christmas."_

_He understood how she felt. __After a beat, he came up with an idea._

_"Hey, we could be friends," he said. "I mean, I've never had friends, so it would be nice. Even if you move, I could go with you...and bring the winter with me. Would you like that?" _

___"Really?" the girl said, lighting up with excitement._

_"Yea. We could have fun together in the snow if you like winter that much," he said, smiling at her. "And you can thank me for the no school."_

_The girl was absolutely delighted! E__yes widened and a smile spread across her face as soon as he mentioned fun and friends. It was something she had wanted for the longest time! __She finally could have a friend that she didn't have to leave and he could bring snow!_

_"That's great!" she said happy. "I can't wait for more snow days! You're the best, Jack! Let's go play!"_

_"Sounds like a plan! I'm sure you and I will have plenty of fun together as friends!" Jack Frost promised her with a smile. "Oh. Before I forget, what is your name, Snow Angel?"_

_The girl giggled and blushed, flattered to be called a 'snow angel'. She told him her name. "You can call me Snow Angel if you want." _

_He smiled at her. "I figured I'd call you Snow Angel since you like the snow. And...you're like an angel, to me anyways. For being able to see me. I've never had anyone see me before." _

_More blushing came from the girl. "I'm glad you're my friend, Jack. I promise to be your friend forever." _

_The snow spirit smiled. "I hope you will be." Jack Frost said. "I'm glad you're my friend too."_

* * *

_Fifteen Years Later-US Army Base_

Specialist Colleen O'Shea was twenty-three years old. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight military bun without a hair out of place. She wore her Army uniform, anxiously awaiting to receive her promotion for sergeant. That meant she could become a drill sergeant, motivating young recruits, turning them into soldiers. She had waited for this moment her whole life.

Colleen was well known around the base as the Ice Queen. Though she was quite beautiful with her hair and green eyes, it was her demeanor that was uncomfortable. Even the young cadets stepped out of her way when she was walking by. When she spoke, it was harsh as an icy wind. A frostiness gleamed in her eyes.

"Specialist O'Shea," called the Master Sergeant. "Step forward."

Colleen strode up to the front, stiff as a board, keeping her back straight. She wanted to look her best for this moment. Her combat boots were the only sound heard in the vast silence of the room.

"This promotion goes to you," says the Master Sergeant, holding the patch that contained her new rank, placing it on the Velcro space of her Army jacket where her old rank used to be. "You are now a sergeant. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Master Sergeant," says Colleen.

Colleen was so proud with her achievement. She was chosen as a leader of her squad at basic training. She was a born leader. Of course she was. Her Dad, the Lieutenant, was a leader.

She was ready to do her SERE (survival, evasion, resistance and escape) training. Twenty-one days of this brutal exercise, leading her platoon through a forest, surviving all kinds of weather and teaching the cadets how to survive out in the wilderness, how to avoid detection from enemies, how to resist and escape when captured as a prisoner of war.

Yes. She was ready. Ready for anything to come her way.

* * *

Once drill was over, she went to the gym to work out, then went home to her condo on the base. She had dinner and watched the news. Upon seeing the time, she went to her bedroom, folding up her uniform neatly, making sure not a single wrinkle existed. She wanted to get to SERE training on time.

Colleen climbed into bed, sighing. She couldn't sleep since she was excited about SERE training. She sang softly, thinking of that song her grandmother would sing to her on sleepless nights...

_**Mister Sandman, bring me a dream...**_

She hummed most of the lyrics lazily since it was a love song. She didn't see the golden shape of Sandy floating outside her window silently, smiling as he looked down with golden eyes. He liked it when Colleen sang that song. He blew a stream of golden dreamsand towards her. Yawning, Colleen laid down and her eyes fluttered as she drifted off to sleep. Sandy observed to see what dreams she would have...sadly, there was nothing. Sandy frowned, disappointed.

What happened to that little girl who used to believe? It saddened all the Guardians when a child stopped believing. No hopes, dreams, wonder...nothing. When one did stop believing, that little light on the globe in North's shop went out completely. They no longer saw them. It was even worse when the child's parents told them that they didn't exist. Most of the time, the child didn't believe what their parents said and held on to their belief...and there were times they accepted the harsh words of their parents, then their light went out completely.

Yet, with Colleen, there was something special about her. She may have grown up and didn't see them anymore, but the last time the Guardians looked, her light flickered on the globe like a candle about to burn out. Could it be there was a tiny part of her in that cold, hard exterior somewhere that probably still believed?

Sandy floated away, leaving her alone. Once the Guardian of Dreams was gone, a dark shape arose from the shadows from beneath her bed. Pitch Black smirked at the sleeping Colleen, watching the swirling dreamsand. He was pleased. This made it easier to create nightmares since she had no dreams.

Lately, tormenting children was no longer working for him since they didn't believe in him anymore. He decided to find a new way to spread fear: adults who had experienced traumatic events in their lives. Though they didn't believe in him either, but why not have fun with them? Adults lived in fear almost every day. The worse their fear, the more Pitch relished it.

In the aftermath of their trauma, nightmares often happened and it took years to overcome their fears. Sometimes they would let go, yet there always seemed to be a trigger: a smell, a sight, a touch, a sound...and the nightmares would start again. Flashbacks. And he decided to make their worst nightmares come true.

Colleen was one who experienced a very traumatic event.

"No dreams?" he laughed softly with a small grin. "What a shame. How about I help you find one?"

With two pale grey long fingers, he tiptoed towards the swirling gold sand and touched it. The sand turned black, forming the ugly shapes of Colleen's nightmare. She stirred uncomfortably, whimpering in her sleep. Pitch smiled, pleased to see the girl was giving in to her fears.

"What a lovely nightmare," he simpered, watching in delight.

_The men: they grabbed, they touched...they ripped off her clothes, held a knife to her throat...she screamed for help, but it was useless..._

Colleen bolted upright, sweating and shaking.

_It was just a bad dream. It doesn't mean anything. _She kept telling herself this in a chant.

Instinctively she touched the three inch scar on her right breast. She tucked it away, out of sight. She preferred to forget that ever happened. The past was in the past, buried long ago. It was an experience that changed her life, but vowed to never let it happen again.

She thought for a moment. She could've sworn she heard sinister laughter while she slept, one she remembered as a child. Then the nightmares that followed, they were the worst. Pitch made them very real to her. Upon waking up, she would see those golden eyes that reminded her of a solar eclipse staring down at her and those jagged grey teeth grinning wickedly in the dark as he tormented her with more nightmares, making her scream, even making her cry. The Nightmare King took absolute delight in her suffering, laughing maniacally.

_Could it be?_ she thought to herself. _Was it really...? _

"Pitch?" she wondered softly, looking in the dark.

* * *

**AN: OK. I'm gonna try with this. Bear with me! Inspired by RPs by carissimininfia and veekaihanz on dA. Many thanx for your inspirados!**


	2. Trickster

_The girl loved her best friend. He always brought fun wherever he went. It didn't matter if people thought she was strange talking to the thin air. Even the kids thought she was weird...but with Jack Frost at her side, he always brought fun...and they forgot about teasing her._

_What the girl remembered was his magic. The magic that created fun. He'd throw a blue snowball or blow sparkling blue snowflakes in her face. Then it would sort of tickle...then she would burst into peals of laughter, quelling her anger or sadness. Then they would play...having lots of snow fun. Winter was her favorite season of all. She liked the snow days. That meant no school...and that meant she could play with her best friend._

* * *

The morning reveille played on her cell phone at 4:00 AM. Colleen blinked out of her sleep and got up with a spring in her step. She could imagine the other cadets would be sluggish, getting out of their bunks.

_Today's the day! _she cheered silently.

Colleen did her ritual of what she did when she woke up: folding her night clothes neatly, placing them in the dresser, made her bed in the hospital corner folds as neatly as possible. Then she pulled on her uniform and grabbed her gear that she had packed up the night before. She left her house to the building where she and her platoon were to meet, always on time (which meant being fifteen minutes early; if one was ACTUALLY on time, that meant one was late).

She arrived at the building where she was supposed to meet with the commander along with her platoon with all her gear she needed for SERE training. She made sure everyone was there, making sure the cadets stood at attention. She would glare at any fidgeting cadets; one icy glance from the Ice Queen's green eyes and they would immediately stop. When the commander gave the at-ease, everyone obeyed.

After the morning meeting, Colleen and her platoon were to begin SERE training. When her commander asked if everyone was present and accounted for, she confirmed with a clear response. When dismissed, she and her platoon went to grab their required gear, heading to a classroom.

First, they had to sit through a lecture about the training; how to survive in different environments in all extreme temperatures, what to use, what plants or wildlife one can or cannot consume, etc. Though the lecture part was boring, she willed herself to listen and learn everything she needed to know. Colleen took notes since it was important to know everything being the platoon sergeant so she could teach the cadets on the SERE exercise.

After the lecture part, she and her platoon got into a helicopter and were dropped in the middle of the forest. The commander gave Colleen instructions of their mission in the woods: survive. Evade enemies. Resist and escape if captured. This would be their test.

* * *

Jack Frost was perched on a tree branch in the forest, his toes curled around it as he squatted to observe the group: they consisted mostly young men and a few women, all dressed in the same uniform. They looked like clones. His blue eyes darted amongst them until he recognized a name. Jack got closer to get a better look...yes! It was her: his former playmate, all grown up. His Snow Angel.

Hanging upside-down with his feet pressed against the bough like he did so long ago, he looked at his former playmate. He watched as she was ordering the young soldiers around...like Toothiana, except harshly. He frowned a bit when he saw the girl he once knew. He hated seeing her so strict. No one should be that strict. Not even North was this uptight. Still, he could see that lonely little Army brat who desired fun.

Jack was surprised, yet proud she had chosen to become a soldier. He recalled the little Army brat telling him this since her Daddy was a soldier and she wanted to be one.

It was early springtime and some of the snow was starting to melt, but it was still cold and it was raining. Everyone in Colleen's platoon was wet, cold, muddy and miserable in the survival part of the training. Colleen was hardly bothered by the cold. She recalled her first three months at Basic Training: how miserable and uncomfortable she was. How the drill sergeants yelled, spraying her face with spit and saying degrading things just to get her to do more calisthenics or to run faster in a long-mile run...in every weather and temperature as possible. Yet she didn't give up.

She was an American soldier...a guardian of freedom. And a soldier NEVER accepted defeat. NEVER quit.

Colleen instructed her platoon to look for food and clean water, set up a shelter. They had to survive. The cadets struggled to get a tent up as quickly as possible, slipping and sliding in the mud.

With a smirk, Jack decided to have a little fun with his former playmate. She was standing near the tree where he was as if she were looking right at him. In childish impudence, Jack stuck his tongue out at her, mocking her serious expression. She didn't react. She couldn't see him. Jack blew the freezing wind towards Colleen's face to see how she would react.

Colleen felt the icy breeze, shutting her eyes and shivered slightly. With a furrowed brow, she looked towards where the breeze came from. She heard a faint impish giggle from somewhere that sounded like a fairy. She seemed to remember hearing that same laugh a few times in her life.

"Weird!" she muttered, shaking her head.

Jack tried something new. He leaped up to one of the higher branches of the tree above her and tipped it, letting all the snow on the pine needles fall right on top of her head. Jack laughed, floating down to stand next to her against a tree. He wished she could see him.

He watched a rather annoyed Colleen look up and shiver as she felt snow run down her back. Squinting, she looked around. She swore she heard the familiar laugh again...a few childhood memories flashed. She shrugged it off and shook off the snow.

"Fucking snow!" she cursed quietly. Then she resumed ordering the cadets around, moving away from the tree.

Jack saw two cadets a few feet away, whispering amonst themselves. He listened in on their conversation.

"Can you believe Frostine the Ice Bitch?" one cadet whispered. "I wish someone would pelt her with a snowball. That would make my day."

"I dunno," said another cadet. "Wouldn't that piss her off even more? She'll think it was us. Besides, I don't want to be on KP duty."

"Man, I would gladly shake hands with the one who has guts to throw one at the Ice Queen. She's so cold that I bet she wouldn't even feel it."

Upon hearing the cadets complaining, the frost spirit grinned from ear to ear at the ideas. He scooped up a handful of melting snow with his cold, skinny fingers before gently blowing on it. Content it was perfect, he waited for the right opportunity and then threw it at Colleen, managing to hit her right on the forehead. He laughed and fell back a bit, simply watching to see if she would give the cadets a hard time for it.

Colleen felt the sting of something cold and hard smack her in the face. Blinking her eyes, her face flushed with rage. She was really pissed off. Someone in her platoon decided to be funny and pull a prank.

The two complaining cadets saw what had happened...their mouths dropped open in shock. One covered his mouth with a hand to suppress a laugh. Jack laughed, seeing how mortified the cadets looked.

Colleen shouted harshly for her platoon to fall in. Jack watched as the cadets got into line, standing stiffly at attention. The Ice Queen glared at her platoon with burning green eyes.

"Who the FUCK threw this?!" she yelled at them, showing them the remains of a snowball.

"Dude, was that...?" whispered the cadet wide-eyed.

The other shook his head, also surprised. "No, Evans. Wasn't me."

Her platoon stared in complete silence; although it was amusing to see the hardened sergeant get pelted by a snowball, they knew it was best to stay quiet. They willed themselves to not laugh at the Ice Queen.

"Let's have a little fun," said Jack Frost. "Shall we?"

He blew some snowflakes along with his magic of fun towards the soldiers' faces. The cadets felt something tickle...they tried to resist, but they couldn't help it. Suppressed smiles appeared and then stifled giggles spilled out. Colleen glared at the idiots who dared to laugh.

"You think this is funny?" she hissed. "You think being here in the middle of enemy territory is funny?!"

The cadets tried to suppress their laughter and smiles, but they just couldn't help it. Colleen was pissed off that they were treating this like a big joke. Damn young recruits!

"This is the GODDAMN Army!" she shouted. The cadets stopped laughing immediately, flinching at the harsh tone of their leader. "Nothing about being a soldier is funny! There are papas out there, waiting to ambush us...and you think this shit is funny?"

"Wow, Snow Angel!" Jack Frost laughed, amused by Colleen's anger. "You turned into a real hard-ass."

"Now I'm gonna ask you all again," she said, calming herself down. "And if any of you don't have the balls to be honest, I will make sure you all are on KP duty for a month, scrubbing garbage cans. Is that clear?!"

"Yes, Sarge," the platoon answered.

"Now, who threw the snowball?" she said, eying each young face of her group.

Though nobody in her squad wanted to be stuck doing Kitchen Patrol, they honestly didn't know who did it. The cadets were shaking a bit and looked at each other in confusion.

"Well?!" she demanded sharply, her evergreen eyes narrowed.

"Seriously, Sarge," said Private First Class Evans bravely. "It wasn't any of us. We were all doing what you told us to do."

She stared at Evans who apparently had the balls to speak up.

"Can you confirm that?" she hissed at him, making him shake in his boots.

Everyone confirmed their orders from her. Colleen was a little convinced, yet there was always a smart-ass among them that thought it would be funny to provoke her wrath. After all, nobody really liked her. Not that she cared if they did or not. In the Army, it didn't matter who liked you or not. Duty for country and its citizens came first.

"Alright then," she said. "As for your childish laughing, we're going on a five mile run."

The cadets groaned and frowned.

"You shouldn't be so harsh on them," Jack murmured to her, even though he knew she couldn't hear.

He then leaned back against a tree and sighed, staring at the woman before him. He missed talking to her. He wished she could see him again. Deciding he had done enough to the poor cadets, he began to float off, having business else where anyways.

"Now, let's finish up and..." Colleen continued, ignoring their whines.

Before she could finish her sentence, her platoon was captured by instructors playing enemy bound them, placed burlap sacks on their heads and dragged them through the woods, shouting at them.

In midair, Jack had heard the commotion and whipped his head around, quickly moving in to see what was going on. That's when he saw Colleen and her team being transported. Were they prisoners? By their own people? Was Colleen in danger? Jack floated above, watching with wide eyes. He followed, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought to himself how cruel they were for something so simple. He was horrified when he saw they were locked inside what looked like a makeshift cage with barbed wire, shoved together like cattle.

He didn't understand what was going on. Everything seemed scary where Colleen was. Serious. They held weapons that exploded loudly; they killed or hurt people. There was no fun where Colleen supposedly was. Nor was it allowed. He wondered why this so called Army didn't allow fun. He didn't understand this whole military thing.

"Whatever happens," Colleen said to the cadets. "Say NOTHING! Don't tell them anything!"

Colleen was dragged out first by three men: one was holding a rifle, pressing it into the small of her back while the other two frog-marched her towards a small tent with her hands tied behind her back with some kind of plastic restraint. Jack floated towards the window and watched as they shoved her roughly in a chair, watching the scene with terrified eyes.

Colleen listened as the instructors asked her questions. She knew this was part of the exercise. The cable tie bit into her wrists harshly. She evaded her 'captors' interrogation with some smart remarks or evasive answers. Sometimes, she just sat there silently, stubbornly refusing to answer. Nope. She knew that if this should ever happen in real life, it was a betrayal to her country. Only answer with name, rank and serial number. Nothing else.

They laid a piece of paper in front of her, which she refused to sign. Then, she was backhanded in the face hard, making the chair and herself fall to the ground. Her cheek throbbed with pain and she tasted blood in her mouth, spitting a little...tears sprang from her eyes, but she blinked them back.

_Have to be strong. I'm Army strong, _she told herself.

She just kept telling herself that this was all part of the training. The enemy would not restrain themselves just because she was a woman. She knew what to expect: rape, torture, beatings...anything to drive fear into her to get her to talk. She knew she had to protect her platoon and herself, her country...she would rather die than give the enemy what they wanted. No matter what the enemy offered, always refuse and resist. Even if it meant by pain of death. That was what soldiers did.

Jack was horrified when he witnessed this brutal scene inside the hut. The men were hurting Colleen. Why were they doing that? It didn't make sense. Colleen just seemed to shake it off, unaffected and unafraid.

He watched as the men dragged her outside towards a huge tub of water, which they proceeded to duck her head under. It was frigid. She blew air out of her nose in hopes of surviving.

_Don't struggle. It only makes it worse._ Colleen told herself.

She was pulled up from the freezing water, spluttering, her clothes were soaking wet and shivering. The instructors demanded her to talk, but she continued to resist. They shoved her head under the water a few more times...the frigid water began to numb her face and body. Jack and the rest of the platoon watched as Colleen was tortured. He saw how scared they were...they looked like children. Some were on the verge of crying.

"Why don't any one of you help her?!" Jack shouted angrily, yet knowing none of them could hear him. "She'll freeze to death, you fools!"

He quickly made a move, tossing snowballs at all the men holding her back and knocking them over with ice under their feet. The instructors stopped, looking around, confused. The one who was ducking Colleen slipped...her head hit something hard. She stopped moving...the instructor who was ducking her pulled her out of the tub.

"Uh...Sarge?" said one of the instructors, shaking her. "You alright?"

When she didn't respond, they were shocked with realization...

"Shit! Oh shit!" the instructor gasped. "Get the AED, call MEDEVAC."

Soldiers scattered, using the radio to call for help. They cut her restraints, ripped open her jacket and shirt, hurriedly drying her off, compressing her chest...Jack watched in pure horror,

"What kind of place is this!? You kill your own men and women for training?!" he shouted, wanting to whack the people with his staff, but it only sent a chill through them.

Jack watched as she lay there, unresponsive. He knelt down to Colleen, looking worried as frozen tears pricked at the corner of his eyes. Her face was deathly pale and her lips were grey blue. Her hair was soaking wet, sticking to her face. Hurriedly drying her off, one of the instructors compressed her chest...

"Cmon, come back to me...I can't lose you. Please," he murmured, wanting to touch her, but he knew what good that would do.

"Snow angel," he whispered.

* * *

**AN: papas is a military code for 'possible enemies'.**


	3. Cold Darkness

_Cold Darkness_

_The girl was going ice skating __at the lake. __Grandma told her to be careful, which she promised. The girl said she was going to meet friends there. __As soon as she left the house, h__er grandmother smiled and shook her head as she watched her granddaughter talked to thin air. Of course, she had an imaginary friend. Ever since her mother died, she had imagined one. _

_The girl's father didn't think it was appropriate that someone her age should have an imaginary friend. It was embarrassing. But the chaplain said it was normal for a child to do so when a loss had occurred. Her mother, the love of his life had died on Christmas Eve, the little girl was only seven-years-old.  
_

_After her mother's death, her Daddy didn't bother to put up decorations for Christmas anymore. Still, her grandmother persuaded him to at least let his daughter celebrate the wonders of Christmas while she still had her childhood. She would grow up eventually sooner or later.  
_

_The girl lied about meeting friends at the lake, sort of. She had her best friend with her. The boy who always brought fun. __He called her 'Snow Angel' and she called him 'Frostbite'._

_She didn't bother to make friends since she would never see them again. Plus they teased her sometimes. She didn't care since Jack Frost always brought fun. He only went away when the warm weather came. At least he came back when winter was near; and he always knew where to find her wherever she moved.  
_

_The girl and Jack went towards the frozen lake. Once she laced up her ice skates, she got on the ice. Jack sniggered while he watched as the clumsy girl slip and fall. She would yell at him angrily that he was not being fair, throwing a snowball at him. He teased her for being a lousy shot._

___"Are you gonna help me or not, Frostbite?" the girl said with a pout._

_Of course, he helped her up and her hand, guiding her gracefully, taking it slow with her across the smooth, sheer ice. Just like he did with his sister so long ago. She was soon able to go off on her own to try it..._

_...until there was a loud crack and the ice gave way. __Jack quickly turned his head, dropping his wooden staff against the icy lake when he heard the dreadful sound followed by the splash of water. Oh no! __The__ girl had disappeared into the black void of the frigid water._

_He called out to the girl, racing to the hole she fell in. He had to save her. If anything happened to her, he would be it was his fault. Quickly diving into the water, he searched for her. Being in the water brought a feeling of something similar: a situation he was once in, but he couldn't tell what it was._

_That didn't matter right now, he had to save his best friend. Once his hands grabbed her arms, he began to drag her back up to the surface, saving her from a frozen watery grave. __The girl coughed up water, shivering so violently, her teeth chattered, her hair and clothes were frozen. __She looked at her best friend who had saved her, tears in her eyes as the cold bit her body harshly. She was ice cold and near blue._

_"J-J-Jack...get me home. P-please," she said in a quivering voice._

_Jack Frost nodded at her request. He kept her close against his blue sweater, hoping it would keep her warm just a little bit. Though he was sure he was making it worse for her. He had carried her off as quick as he possibly could back to her house. He held__ her bridal style and floated with the wind. All that mattered was that he got her home safely._

_The girl huddled against his sweater, feeling the softness. She felt his lithe chest; it was cold, but she didn't care. She was safe with her best friend, even if he was cold as winter. Her eyes were half-lidded when he got her home. Jack rang the doorbell with his staff, placing the girl on her feet. Her grandmother appeared, seeing in horror, her wet, freezing granddaughter._

_"Jaysus, Mary and Joseph!" she exclaimed. "What happened?! Did ye fall in the ice?"_

_"It was an accident," the girl answered, her teeth chattering._

_"__Let's get inside and get ye warm," she said hurried._

_Off came her soaked winter clothes, then into the bathroom for a hot bath. Then the girl was dressed in clean clothes and wrapped in blankets with a mug of hot chocolate. __She was still shivering as she held the mug, feeling the warmth spreading throughout her frozen body._

_____"Ye ____must have a guardian angel lookin' out fer ye," said her grandmother._

_Jack Frost was terribly worried after he managed to get the girl home. He waited outside her house on a tree, sitting on one of the thicker branches that could hold his light weight._

_"I really hope she's okay," he said to himself as he laid down on the branch. _

_Eventually, he wanted to check up on her. __He watched through the window as she was taken care of by her grandmother; his cold breath frosted the glass. __Once her grandmother was gone, she opened the window and let him in._

_"Are you OK, snow angel?" he asked worried. _

_"I'm OK, Jack," she said, sniffling._

_The girl saw how disturbed the winter spirit was. __There was a lot on his mind too. The feeling of being in the water after ice breaking, the feeling he once felt before. But he couldn't figure out from where or when. __Shaking his head, he figured it might have been nothing._

_"It wasn't your fault," she assured. "__I wasn't scared. Besides, I know I'm always safe when you're around and the cold will never bother me as long as you're here."_

_To hear these words from the girl, it lifted his spirits. He laughed a little at the shivering girl, she was brave indeed. His hand touched hers; it was cold as his, but starting to warm up. _

* * *

Colleen was dead. She was sure of it. She remembered a time she fell through thin ice one winter. How cold and dark the water was, how she looked up from the hole where she had fallen through, seeing the blue sky, hearing a muffled voice yelling from the surface...then silence. That eternal dark, cold silence as she sank into the void...

She heard a heavenly voice somewhere in the dark. It asked her if she wanted anything before leaving the earth...to confess any regrets...

Colleen thought for a moment about what the voice asked her. The first thing that came to her mind was an old friend she had forgotten; ice blue eyes, tousled silvery hair that reminded her of fresh snowfall. Then the painful memory of what happened, the crippling regret. If she could see him one last time...

"To see Jack Frost again," she replied. "I need to tell him..." Tears were forming in her eyes. "That...I'm sorry."

After a beat, she felt something punch her in the chest very hard! She screamed loudly.

"Ow!" she yelled. "That hurts!"

Another punch in the chest...

* * *

Colleen's jacket and shirt were cut open, a soldier compressed her breastbone, performing CPR. Another used a face mask to pump oxygen into her while and another got the AED. They dried her off quickly before placing the leads on her chest, pressing buttons to charge it. Her heart had stopped completely. Once it was charged, a high-pitched whine and a light flashed.

"CLEAR!" yelled one of the soldiers.

Colleen's body jerked...no response.

"CLEAR!"

Another spasm...no response.

"C'mon, Sarge!" said the instuctor who pumped her chest.

Jack Frost knelt down to Colleen, exposed and wet at the brink of death, looking worried as frozen tears pricked at the corner of his eyes.

"Cmon, come back to me. I can't lose you...please..." he murmured, wanting to touch her, but he knew what good that would do.

He looked up in the sky at the full moon, glaring angrily. He would speak to Manny sometimes, even before he became a Guardian. Often Manny would leave Jack frustrated because he didn't answer his questions. But to allow his best friend to die like this was unacceptable.

"Don't you dare!" he spat.

He tried to calm himself down, his body shaking and tears streamed down his cheeks, freezing. His heart began to ache. The moon continued to shine in the blue sky.

"Please...save her. Bring her back," he pleaded, gripping his staff.

Upon hearing nothing from Manny, Jack sat in silence, seeing his friend was now gone. He lowered his head.

Another charge and shock delivered..."CLEAR!"

Then, something amazing happened...

Colleen spat up water and coughed harshly. There were huge sighs of relief when she came back. The platoon watched as their sargeant regained consciousness. Colleen stared at blurred faces with half-lidded eyes, her vision was blurred. She saw something kneeling next to her...a blue sweater, white hair.

"Give her some air," said the instructor. Then looked down at Colleen. "Sarge? Sarge, can you hear me?"

"J...Jack..." she barely managed to whisper.

Everyone looked confused at what she said. But no matter, she was probably delirious from being revived. Colleen was turned on her side in a recovery position. She was freezing cold; not sure if it was from the water or from those few moments she died. One of the soldiers took off his coat and put it on her to keep her warm until the med van arrived.

"Jack..." she said again weakly.

Then she passed out...

Jack saw she woke up. Only for a second or two, but at least she was alive. And she said his name? He looked at her, hopeful but suspicious. Was she dreaming, or did she actually see him? Either way, he made sure to follow the ambulance as it drove off with her.

* * *

Her eyes fluttered occasionally. Seeing flashes of white, hearing distorted sounds and seeing blurred faces. Who knew how much time had passed...or where she was.

Then, she began to dream. Strange. She hardly had any dreams. Good ones anyway. This time, it was different...

Sandy floated near the sleeping girl. He smiled, pleased for once that her dreams were slowly coming back. She was dreaming about a boy. And not just any boy. Sandy silently giggled as he beheld Colleen's dream.

Colleen looked around in the dark. She heard crunching beneath her feet, shivering from the cold. She felt something soft and cold fall on her...she touched one, it felt wet as it melted. Snowflakes. There was a single lamp post that stood a few feet away, covered in snow. The light glowed yellow, splitting the night and made the flakes glitter like diamonds. Leaning against the post, there was a hooded figure holding a staff that looked like a shepherd's crook. Colleen squinted. Was it...him? As she got closer, she recognized him. Her long forgotten best friend: the winter spirit. The snow fairy. The ice prince. Frostbite.

"Jack Frost?" she whispered.

He turned his head towards Colleen, pulling his hood off and looked at her. A smile broke out on his face. He was happy to see her.

"I've missed you, snow angel," he said, his hands shoved in the pockets of his blue sweater. "It's been so long."

Colleen wasn't sure if it was real or not. It was real enough to her. Fine snowflakes fell on them and the powdery snow crunched beneath her feet, which made her smile. Winter had always her favorite season.

"Are you really here?" Colleen asked.

"I've always been here, watching you like the Guardian that I am," he said with a smile. "I never forgot about you."

Colleen smiled painfully. She forgot about him. Her best friend. There had been times she thought about him. She missed him...

"Do you still believe in me, snow angel?" he asked.

"I..." Colleen said hesitant.

She didn't know how to answer. How long had it been since she last saw her best friend? It seemed so long...growing up made time fly. There was only one way to be sure if he was there. She remembered what she said as a child.

_He doesn't nip the nose, he kisses it. If I can see it or touch it, then I believe it's real._

"If you're really here," Colleen said. "Then kiss my nose and I'll believe."

A smile from the winter spirit. Jack leaned towards Colleen and touched his lips to her nose. It felt so cold! And it was so real! It was! Funny, she could still feel it. It felt too real...

* * *

Jack had been waiting patiently, hoping for his friend to wake up. He wasn't sure if she could see him or not, but he wanted to know the truth.

He was lost in his own thoughts, light snow began to fall in the hospital room. He looked at the young woman asleep...until she spoke his name, grabbing his attention. He turned to face her, watching the dreamsand. She was dreaming about him.

"Jack..." she spoke. "If you're really here, kiss my nose and I'll believe."

Smiling, he did so...frost formed, the flesh turned pink. He moved away, sitting on his knees. He stood still, watching as she stirred...her eyelashes fluttered as she awakened.

Colleen blinked her eyes as her dream began to dissipate. She shivered; the room was cold. Something fell on her face that was soft and cold. Was it...snowing? Her vision blurred, but she saw something sitting on her bed...a small pale hand reached towards her.

"C-Colleen..?" Jack asked hesitantly, reaching out a hand; his wide eyes boring into hers.

She found herself face-to-face with none other than...


	4. Imaginary Friend

**_an: OK I'm re editing this story. Please feel free to read earlier chapts since I added new stuff! Many thanks! Happy reading!_**

* * *

_Imaginary Friend_

_The girl talked to her imaginary friend. Daddy was becoming more embarrassed as the soldiers in his battalion whispered about his weird daughter that talked to thin air._

_She sat in Burgess Elementary School, third grade class. Everyone knew the Army brat. Her Daddy marched in the Memorial Day parade and picked her up from school dressed in his Army uniform._

_The girl was bored in class. She would glance out the window, looking at the light snow that fell outside. She couldn't wait until recess to play. During the boring lesson, she heard a tap on the window and looked towards it. There was Jack__ Frost. He waved at her and smiling playfully through the frosted window. The girl looked towards the front of the class to make sure the teacher wasn't looking, then opened the window just enough to be able to speak to him, not so much as to let in the cold air._

___"Hi, Frostbite!" she whispered, her face lit up with excitement._

___"Hey, Snow Angel," he said. "When are you gonna come out and play?"_

___The girl looked at the clock to check the time. ____"Recess is gonna be soon. I can't wait to play with you!"_

___Jack rested his chin on his fist, looking at what the class was learning. He wasn't familiar with what was going on, but it looked boring anyway. He thought of ways he could amuse himself and his best friend._

___"Want me to bring a little fun?" he asked with an impish grin._

___"Um, I don't think that's a good idea, Jack," the girl replied hesitant. "I don't want to get in trouble."_

___The teacher, Ms. Derkins, saw the girl looking out the window and talking quietly to...someone. She approached the girl's desk slowly to see who she was talking to, but there was no one there. _

___"Who are you talking to?" asked Ms. Derkins._

___The entire class giggled and whispered about the weird Army brat who talked to thin air. The girl shrank, blushing that she had gotten caught._

_"Jack Frost," said the girl. "He's my best friend." _

_Oh yes! Ms. Derkins knew the girl had an imaginary friend. Which was fine. Considering the circumstances.__The classroom burst into peals of laughter. The teacher gave a stern look at the laughing students._

_"Now, now," said Ms. Derkins to the class. "We shouldn't laugh at someone because they have an imaginary friend." _

_"Jack's not imaginary," the girl insisted. "He's real."_

_"Of course he is," said Ms. Derkins, patting her shoulder to assure her that it was fine. She was about to shut the window._

_"No! Don't shut it!" said the girl._

_"Is your friend outside?" Ms. Derkins asked._

_The girl nodded._

_"Why doesn't he come inside? He can join us if he wants to." _

_The girl looked towards the window, seeing the mischievous look on the winter spirit's face. She knew he would start trouble as soon as he set foot inside. She shook her head with wide eyes to Jack._

_"Alright, Snow Angel," he promised. "I won't come inside if you don't want me to."_

_"No," said the girl. "It's fine. Jack prefers to be outside. Besides, I'm a little hot. Just leave it open a little."_

_"Alright then," said Ms. Derkins. "But if it gets too cold in here, we're going to have to shut the window."  
_

_The class called her a weirdo and shook their heads. Jack decided to have a little fun with the kids who laughed at his best friend. He touched the floor with the base of his staff. The girl watched as featherlike frost streaked across the floor, turning into ice. __That's when the recess bell rang, __the entire class got up from their seats...and slipped on the frozen floor. Everyone was confused. Where did the ice come from? How was this possible? Jack burst into laughter while the girl held back hers._

_He always brought fun! He even made all the kids in her class forget about teasing her and made fun times with everyone._

* * *

...Jack Frost. Colleen froze. He looked like a ghost, so still...upon speaking her name, she screamed in alarm and fell out of the hospital bed, getting twisted and tangled in the wires of the leads and IVs. The EKG machine beeped wildly as her heart raced from being startled. She smacked her head on the floor.

"OW!" she cried, rubbing her head.

Jack sat up, trying to contain his own laughter as he looked down at Colleen, all entwined and ridiculous looking. Classic reaction! Just like she did when he first met her. He was sure she could see him this time.

"FUCK!" she yelled, clutching her chest. "Dammit, Frostbite! You scared me!"

"Sorry, snow angel," he said, clapping a hand to his mouth.

He smiled at her. Then he stood up up and hopped off the bed, light as air and walked over to her. He laughed a bit and shook his head as he remembered that clumsy girl he grew to know.

"Need a hand?" he offered to help her out.

Colleen looked up at him. She recalled the dream she had about her old childhood friend, him kissing her nose...was it real? It sure felt real.

"Oh God! Please tell me this is a dream," she sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Want me to pinch you to make sure?" he asked.

_I must've really hit my head harder than I thought to be able to see my imaginary childhood friend. _Colleen thought. "Um...no thanks," she answered.

After a beat, she thought for a moment. OK, she could see him. But if he was here, then that meant...

"Wait...were you watching me sleep? How long were you sitting there?" she asked suspicious.

Jack Frost thought for a moment. "Maybe for a while, I was," he answered with a shrug. "Not sure, I lost track of time."

"Uh, and another question: what are you doing here?" said Colleen, rubbing her sore head where she bumped it after falling out of bed.

"I wanted to know how you're doing and all," he said to her with a smile. He saw her rubbing her head. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she said.

Colleen thought for a moment of her last memory.

"The last thing I remember was being at SERE training in the woods with my platoon and someone thought it would be funny to throw a snowball at me..." she said.

After a beat and a few memories as a child: the snowball, the laughing soldiers when she got mad...it all made sense now.

"That was you, wasn't it?" she said accusingly.

Jack Frost leaned against a wall and smirked. He was glad she remembered that moment.

"What makes you think it was me?" he said, deciding to play it off like he didn't do anything.

"Please!" Colleen replied with an eye roll. "You were my best friend since I was eight. I know your snowballs. Your fun magic that you would blow in my face whenever I was grumpy. Your pranks."

"Okay, okay," he said with a laugh, giving in since she knew him well enough to tell he did it. "Yeah, that was me."

"Well, you gave my platoon's position away and got us captured," Colleen said with a scowl. "I was trying to teach the cadets to AVOID the enemy, not get their attention."

The winter spirit's face fell with shame. His best friend was angry. He didn't mean to. He was just teasing her. Still, he didn't understand that whole incident that he saw: how Colleen and her group were treated so abusively, how those men beat and tortured her.

"Sorry about getting you captured, Colleen," he apologized.

With thin lips, she sighed. It was all his fault. She really wanted to get the evasion part of the SERE test right the first time. Still, it was hard being angry at the Guardian of Fun since he was her only friend as a child; she didn't really have any friends in her adult life either. She acted professionally with her comrades. In social situations, she would have a date or hook-up once in a while, but mostly she shut people out. She preferred to be alone...not allowing people to get close to her.

"It's fine," she said resigned. "And not to be rude, but this isn't a good time for you to just pop in the neighborhood."

"Oh?" he said. "And why not?"

"Uh...I'm a sergeant of the US Army," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I just got this promotion and fun isn't exactly on my agenda."

"Well, you should have a bit of fun now and then, ma'am," he laughed, mockingly saluting her.

"Don't address me like that!" Colleen said annoyed. "You only address the officers by those names."

Jack playfully pouted, mocking Colleen's expression. "Mm," he teased in a low voice. "So...serious!"

She groaned in irritation. Did this guy take anything seriously? Oh, that's right! He was the winter spirit of fun! When she saw Jack making a silly face, she felt a slight giggle slip. Shit! He always had that affect on her, making her laugh. Stupid impish winter spirit bastard!

"Oh, is that laughter I hear?" he continued to tease. "Gee, I didn't think soldiers laughed, least of all you."

"You didn't happen to use your fun magic in that snowball, did you?" she shot back.

The playful boy just smirked.

She just had enough of the teenage hellion's teasing, from using his ice and snow to playing tricks on her as a child. She picked herself up, ready to kick that arrogant little winter spirit's ass...only to realize she was still tangled in wires and tubes. Yelling 'ow' as her IV was pulled...crow-hopping and cursing, trying to get out of this mess. Jack laughed lightly at how ridiculous she looked.

"How I wish I had a camera right now," Jack said quietly.

"I'm going to get you for this, you devious little...!" Colleen growled, struggling.

Then the EKG lead wire disconnected from the machine, making the monotonous flat line noise.

"Shit!" she hissed, frantically trying to reconnect it.

More curses slipped out of Colleen as the wire kept slipping out of her hand. She bent over, the back of her gown opened, showing a pair of plain underpants. Noticing her ongoing struggle, Jack went over to her. Though this was amusing, he couldn't continue letting her make a goof out of herself. When he noticed her exposed underwear, it made him blush a bit.

"Hey, hey. I got it," he offered as he went to reconnect the wire to the machine.

Once the EKG wire was reconnected, it stopped making the noise. The flatline tone was replaced by the steady rhythm of her heartbeat. Colleen forgot her anger. She still felt embarrassed.

"Um, thanks, Frostbite," she said with a nonchalant shrug.

Jack Frost gave off a generous nod towards his close friend. "Um, your, ahem, gown," he replied, blushing.

She felt her gown was wide open and with a blush, she pulled it shut. Her best friend saw her in those horrible underpants! Jeez! How much more embarrassing could it be? Of all times for her imaginary childhood friend to show up, it had to be now: tangled up in wires in her underwear! Well, sort of. He probably got a nice view of her ass. All those years of striding to be the ideal soldier: disciplined, orderly, getting things right the first time.

Several medics rushed in with the defibrillator in a frantic. When they saw the young woman was fine, they heaved a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank God, Sarge!" said one of them. "We thought you bit the dust again."

"Uh...what?" Colleen said confused.

"You almost died," said another. "You hit your head and you nearly drowned."

"What?!" she gasped.

Colleen recalled the brutal exercise from SERE training...how the instructor ducked her head under ice cold water in an attempt to get her to talk...then it went black...then her dream. Falling snow, cold, Jack Frost appearing...

Jack watched the situation on hand go by, listening to them speak to the girl. He knew they really couldn't see him so he didn't bother doing anything like hiding. It was pointless, after all. Hearing all these dangerous acts she went through and witnessing the brutal scene earlier today, he sighed, wishing she wasn't really involved in all of this. He'd hate to find her dead one day. If he had to go on without her, he'd truly miss her deeply.

"What happened to you?" another asked seeing the state the young sergeant was in.

"I, uh, fell out of bed," Colleen replied, embarrassed. "I'm fine. Just got tangled up in the wires. Could you excuse me?"

The medics nodded and left. She face palmed herself with a sigh. Jeez! A sergeant and already she was making a fool out of herself. A complete disgrace to the Army! And now finding out she nearly died! How the hell did this happen?!

"You need to stop getting yourself nearly killed," Jack Frost said to her. "Did those men hurt you?"

"Uh...what men?" she asked with a furrowed brow. "What are you talking about?"

"There were men who had you tied up and were hurting you," he explained.

She thought for a moment about what he said, then realized. "That was an exercise," she explained.

"It didn't look like one," he responded with a frown.

"Well, it is," she responded in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't understand how you can cope with these people. No one should be able to do that to you...to anyone. It's just wrong." Jack grumbled softly. "Why were they hurting you?"

Colleen sighed. She didn't think the Guardian of Fun would understand something like this. She had to explain what was going on.

"Look, Jack," she began. "There's nothing to worry about. I was in no danger whatsoever. Those 'men' were instructors and the reason they were 'hurting' me is because it's supposed to give soldiers an experience of what to expect when they're captured and interrogated in enemy prison and what to do."

Jack glanced at her, so angry and scared. "That's not helping! That's traumatizing! And it causes damage to you!" he said, near tears.

"That's the point of these kind of exercises. It's to scare us into telling the enemy what they want. They will do whatever it takes to break us. Besides, being a soldier is my job. I'm a guardian...like you. That's one thing we have in common: you protect children. I protect my country and its citizens. And with that comes a risk, right?"

Jack Frost understood where she was coming from.

"I guess so. I mean, I helped stop Pitch so he couldn't harm the kids anymore," he said. "Well, still, yours is bigger than that...I mean, the world is crazy. Crazier than it was back when I was alive."

A silence washed between the two of them. He had a slightly worried and scared look on his face as he stared at her.

"Still, it was scary. I almost lost you today. I don't want it to happen again." Jack said, glancing at her.

Colleen didn't want to admit she was scared; she was taught fear meant being weak. How she had trained hard to face death, knowing she would die to protect her country and comrades, only to look it right in the face. If she never got to see her best friend again.

"Yes, it is," she said. "But I knew the risks I'm taking when I signed up and I have to prepare if it ever does happen in real life. And don't worry about me. I'm fine. I'm a big girl and I can take a few bumps and bruises."

"Please, just be more careful," he murmured and placed his hand over hers. "I really don't want to lose you again."

"I always am," she assured. "I'm a trained professional."

Upon the young man mentioning Pitch Black, the Nightmare King: a shadow that hid in the closet, dark corners and under the bed. She had seen him as a child: dull-grey skin, his black robe like a velvet shadow, his lamp-like eclipse eyes, his wicked jagged-toothed smile, his slicked-back black hair stood up in spikes like one would see in comics of a terrified person. She thought about her recent nightmare. She could've sworn she heard his sinister laugh. She looked at Jack as he gazed out the window, watching the ground and then the sky with hope that all is right in the world. That the kids he loved and would protect are doing great. Perhaps she should tell him this. It was rather strange that Pitch would show up again.

"Jack..." she said. "I think Pitch showed up recently."

Hearing about Pitch made him turn around and look at her with surprise.

"Pitch? But how? Why?" he asked.

It didn't make sense to him. Why would Pitch go to her? She wasn't a child, she was an adult.

Colleen instinctively touched her chest, feeling the scar on her right breast. She didn't want Jack to know what happened so long ago. That Pitch may have returned because of her fears...

"I'm...not sure," she said with a furrowed brow. "I found that quite surprising myself."

"This can't be good if he's after you. I really hope he's not," he said.

Jack Frost tried to think as to why Pitch would go after her. He thought maybe to get at him for the past. Shaking his head, he came to a conclusion.

"I'm gonna go see what Pitch is up to," he told her.

"Alright. Just...be careful." Colleen said concerned.

"Don't worry. Just relax and wait for me to return," Jack told her.

She nodded. He decided to flick some snow at her teasingly with a smirk.

"DAMMIT, FROSTBITE!" she shouted, annoyed, wiping the snow off of her.

She hoped nobody on the night shift heard her talking to thin air. One whiff of this and it was off to the crazy house for her. Probably discharge. Who knew? She had spent her whole life trying to be as normal as possible when it came to the Army. Now the winter spirit had returned and was already causing mischief.

And with that, Jack Frost was gone and on his way to the lair of nightmares. He was going to find out what he was up to. What was he planning? And why of all people, go after Colleen?


	5. Catching Up

_Catching Up_

Pitch Black was quite pleased with himself with his newfound way to spread fear. Adult nightmares were absolutely intoxicating, addicting...more potent than any drug made by man. Hearing their screams of horror was like music to his ears. Seeing them react like that in their sleep was so amusing. He couldn't wait to try it again!

Colleen was one of his favorite children to torment. She had so many fears...her most recent event that he had seen when he created her nightmare was quite delightful! He also discovered to his glee that the people she resided with had the worst traumatic life experiences and fears: men and women in the military. He felt like a kid in a candy store!

He heard a sound from somewhere and recognized the tousled mop of snow white hair. Another favorite one he liked to torment!

At the arrival of where Jack knew Pitch stayed, he hopped down the hole where a lone wooden bed frame stood in the center of the forest. He held his staff carefully and close with one hand. He carried it, not letting the bottom touch the ground. His feet walked across the familiar ground he once did in the past. The last thing he expected was to come back here, he didn't even expect Pitch to return.

"Pitch!" Jack Frost called out, his voice echoed in the lair of the man of nightmares lived. "What are you doing?" he demanded, his tone showing anger.

There was a sinister laughter...shadows on the walls that formed the shape of the bogeyman. Jack Frost was careful, staying still as his eyes followed the movements of Pitch.

"Having fun," he said smoothly. "Just like you."

Pitch appeared out of the darkness, his hands behind his back with a very smug look.

"My type of fun doesn't include giving nightmares to people," Jack growled. "Why are you doing this now?"

"Like I told you before," the Nightmare King responded. "I'm tired of hiding under beds, in closets, in corners. And you can't get rid of me...there's always going to be fear."

Jack remembered when he said that the last time he saw Pitch.

The bogeyman sighed dramatically. "Oh, children these days are so desensitized, Jack. They don't scare as easily as they used to anymore with all these things on tv, video games, and movies. I've found a better use with spreading fear."

He chuckled maliciously with a smirk, his gold eyes glittered as he came up with things to say to provoke the Guardian.

"Your little girlfriend has wonderful nightmares, by the way," he mocked. "She never has dreams anymore. Sure, Sandman will visit...but there are never any dreams. All I merely did was help her find one..."

He chuckled again as he recalled seeing a sleeping Colleen, how she whimpered and cringed in her sleep as he corrupted the dreamsand...

Jack Frost felt anger built up in him as Pitch talked. While the children were safe- he was relieved from that much. Even then, Pitch's words were enough to piss him off. He had planned to stick by Colleen's side now to ensure her safety away from Pitch tonight. He couldn't stand to watch her suffer the way she was going to because of him.

"Pitch, this isn't right," Jack Frost said, trying to hide his anger as the grip around his staff tightened. "She's better off without dreams than having nightmares. I'm not letting you get to her tonight."

"Really?" he replied with a smile. "Didn't your girlfriend stop believing in you AND the other Guardians? I seem to recall a certain someone telling her that you all don't exist." He hummed for a minute and pointed a finger at his chin like he was thinking. "How old was she? Twelve?"

Oh yes. Jack Frost remembered that awful day...the things Pitch often said angered him. He pushed that thought back and focused on his confrontation.

"Considering I'm still capable of talking to her, she didn't follow through and believed like the other kids would when their parents told them that," Jack Frost said, trying to stay calm.

"Let me see if I can help you remember," Pitch said.

With a whistle, the nightmare horse trotted towards her master, which he stroked lovingly. Then took a handful of black sand from the flowing mane and threw it in the frost spirit's face. Jack Frost let out a painful grunt and struggled as the sand was thrown in his eyes, clawing at them...

Then he saw the memory, the one horrifying flashback to him: the day Colleen stopped believing. He didn't want to remember that. It was painful, losing her and having her be unable to see him any longer. Tears sprang from his ice blue eyes. He couldn't stand it but he stood close by and watched her like the Guardian he was.

Once it was over, he shook his head and wiped his eyes that had a mingle of tears and sand. He returned to his confrontation with the Nightmare King.

"It doesn't matter now. She believes again. And that's all that counts," he said defensively, his voice shaking.

"We'll see," said Pitch a bit cocky and threateningly. "Now get out!"

Jack Frost looked at him for a moment before he took his leave. He felt the nightmare lingering. A tear rolled down his cheek and froze...

* * *

_US Army Medical Center_

Colleen found out she had to be observed for a few days to make sure her concussion wouldn't get any worse. She was pissed. That meant she couldn't go back in the field for a while.

Jack Frost had returned to the Medical Center, entering into the room he knew Colleen was in. He had flicked snow at her again to show he was back.

"Hey Colleen. Hope you didn't have to wait too long for me," he laughed as he watched her react with a shiver.

With an annoyed frown that the winter spirit had done this, she wiped the snow off of her.

"No, not really," she responded. "Just finding out what happened took a while."

"You were right, it was Pitch," he confirmed her theory. Jack was angry over Pitch, his words bothering him and the memory haunting.

She saw he looked upset. "What happened? Everything OK?" she asked concerned.

"It's just- nothing. Nothing. He's just after you because of how terrible your nightmares can be."

Colleen looked uncomfortable. She couldn't tell him about her past.

"Let's just...talk about something else," she said, wanting to move on.

He nodded in agreement of changing the topic.

"Well, I got good news...I can't leave here for a few days. They have to observe me to make sure my concussion doesn't get worse. Yay! Fun times!" she said dryly.

"Well, at least it's a few days without you possibly getting injured badly again." Jack Frost said as he sat down on the ground, looking up at her.

"That's up to the Master Sargeant to decide if I'm fit enough or not to return to work," Colleen said. "Besides, the work I do is not always dangerous. Mostly I just spend my days yelling at new recruits to train them into soldiers...or I get called to deal with rebellious juvenile delinquents at the request of some parents."

"Got it," he responded. He did prefer when she did the easy work, the stuff she had mentioned. It was something he wouldn't have to worry about her on. Then he added, "By the way, I'm gonna stay here for the night."

With a sigh, she reluctantly nodded. "Just do me two favors, Frostbite," said Colleen. "A) don't scare me like that when I wake up and 2) don't sneak in the bathroom to freeze the shower."

"Freeze the shower? Now you're only giving me ideas now," he said with his crooked playful smirk. "You should know how I am, I'm all about snowballs and fun times."

Colleen face palmed herself, regretting mentioning that.

"I only ask this because I don't want you to see me...er...indecent," she said. "Kind of like how you were staring at my ass when I was all tangled up earlier."

He looked away with a fairly obvious blush on his face. "It was an accident, I swear," he said with embarrassment. "I didn't mean to...wait, how did you know I was looking?"

"Please!" Colleen said with a dry laugh. "You're a guy. And most of the recruits that enter are your age...well not actually your age, but you know what I mean. I know they're pervy and ready to...uh...y'know...do naughty fun times."

Colleen felt stupider as she had to explain to Jack what teenage boys thought. Another face palm and flush in her freckled cheeks and blonde hair hid her face.

Jack Frost rolled his eyes. "Oh come on! Doesn't mean I'll try to do anything to you. You're my best friend, why would I even?" He shook his head. "The least I'll do is mess around with you. Unless you wanted to do stuff."

He blushed some more. After all, Colleen was a woman now...she had needs. Her type of fun was different now that she was all grown up...

Colleen rolled her eyes. "Of COURSE I know you would nev...uh..." she heard the last part, blinking her eyes. "Uh, Jack...have you...er...ever...y'know?"

_Jeez! Might as well eat my foot for asking my best friend such a personal question._ Colleen thought to herself.

He shook his head. "I've never done anything like that in my life. You should know, I'm usually out having fun with children. Like I used to do with you."

Colleen figured. If he was old as he claimed to be, she guessed this kind of stuff was looked down on until marriage. A 300-year-old teenage virgin! Jeez! She definitely would've been scorned if she had lived during his time.

"Oh and in case you're curious about me," Colleen added. "Let's just say if I had lived during your time, I'd be put in the stocks and forced to wear a label that stated the obvious."

_Wow! I just told my best friend that I'm a HUGE slut!_ she thought to herself again.

"I guess you've been having...ahem...fun," he replied with a laugh.

She blushed. Jeez! She laughed as she imagined herself living 300 years ago in Jack's era.

"Sure am glad I was born in this time," she laughed. "I'd be too wild if I had lived in yours. I'd probably cut my hair short, wear boys clothes, play rough with boys, shocking people...and have fun pranking the schoolmaster, we'd probably get paddled." She paused at the thought of that. "I think you and I would've had lots of fun if we knew each other then."

He chuckled at the thought of them being friends before he was a Guardian. Just imagining it, he could see the two of them getting along well and having fun times together: running through the village as best friends like they are now, enjoying the winter and the rest of the seasons, but for him, especially winter. The two would possibly get in trouble together.

"Oh I'm sure we would have," Jack Frost said, smiling. "We would have been the most troublesome kids out there. We'd be known for being a great team. A great team at having fun."

Another chuckle from Colleen. He certainly had that effect on her.

"Did you happen to use any fun magic in that snow you flicked at me?" she said.

"Nah. Not yet, anyways!" he chuckled. The thought was entertaining though.

"I don't think I've laughed since I began basic training," Colleen admitted. Though she honestly felt it was longer than that. "Normally people refer to me as 'the Ice Queen' or 'Frostine the Snow Bitch.'"

The young man was surprised to hear these type of nicknames she was given by the people here.

"Oh? What have you done to deserve such names like that?" he wondered curiously.

"Let's just say I have a frozen heart," Colleen replied with a shrug like it didn't matter. "Being a drill Sargent, I can't be soft on anyone. I am training young people to be brave in times of war. Mostly it's the young recruits call me those names. They're about teenagers. I don't care really."

She looked uncomfortable. She didn't want to tell him about how her heart was broken when she stopped believing. She dated many men who hurt her. She decided never to love again: just one night of passion and leave; no cuddling or calls back for another date. Colleen avoided some social situations like declining Family Day parties and friendly invitations to go out with her comrades.

He nodded with understanding. However, the Colleen he knew wasn't like that, which he was glad about.

"Well, do what you have to do for them," Jack Frost said. "But I know that at least you can be fun at times." He then stood back up, loosely holding onto his staff.

Jack Frost was honestly curious of her past. He wanted to know what bits and pieces he missed out on. Though, he wouldn't admit it, sometimes he'd come check up on her and despite knowing she couldn't see him, he still cared. He craved her attention at those moments. The day she began to believe again was the most wonderful day for Jack Frost.

"Something wrong?" he asked, noticing her discomfort.

Colleen shook her head. "I don't really want to talk about it."

With respect, Jack Frost accepted that. "Okay, that's fine," he said.

That though would not stop his wonder. There were so many questions he had that were left unanswered and he knew that would continue being unanswered.

Soon a nurse came in, interrupting the moment. She heard the young Sargent talking...but it didn't sound like anyone was there.

"Sarge?" said the nurse raising an eyebrow. "Talking to someone?"

The young woman blushed. It was just like her childhood when everyone saw her talking to thin air. Some thought she was crazy as she got older. Her father especially. The chaplain said it was normal for a child to form an imaginary friend after a loss. Colleen lost her mom at eight in a car accident one winter. Her father became emotionally distant and buried in his work with the Army. She was lonely...the only friends she had were her grandmother, Aileen, an immigrant from Ireland...and Jack Frost.

"Uh...just talking to my Dad on my phone," she said. "What is it?"

"Checking your IV and EKG," the nurse said. "Also, Sarge, you're going to be scheduled for another MRI for your concussion tomorrow afternoon."

Colleen nodded. Then waited for the nurse to leave. "Crap! That was a bit embarrassing."

After the nurse left, he resumed talking to her. "But I bet it's good she can't see me. Otherwise I bet I would have been thrown out of your hospital room along time ago," he mentioned.

Colleen let out a small tsh laugh. "Let's just hope that no one catches wind of this. The Army takes this shit seriously. I don't want to end up in a psych ward or worse, kicked out for...talking to you."

Jack Frost nodded. He understood since Colleen was grown up now and people tended to think that she was crazy. Though she knew who she was talking to, she could see him and hear him...he was real to her.

"I'm gonna get some sleep," she said, yawning. "Gotta long day tomorrow."

She nestled her head on the pillow and sleepily began to sing:

**_Mister Sandman, bring me a dream..._**

Then lazily hummed the rest of the words, except the line asking Sandy to bring her a dream...golden dreamsand floated towards the her and she fell asleep. Jack Frost leaned back against the wall next to her bedside, watching the sand come in.

"Thanks Sandy," he mumbled with a smile.

He stuck by her side through out the night, watching her sleep.

Colleen began to dream...about her and Jack if they had lived in his time, yet she just saw him as she always did: pale, snowy hair, blue eyes...maybe some Colonial era clothes. Her in an awful dress, which she dared herself to roll up the sleeves, no corset or stockings, running barefoot with her best friend...making trouble...

The gold dreamsand formed shapes of a boy and a girl, making mischief, laughing and chasing each other. Jack Frost was watching the dreamsand form the two figures. He could just figure out what was going on from that.

"That must be the two of us," he said, remembering their conversation.

It made sense it was them. He hoped the dream was nice and exactly how the two of them would have been like if they did live there in his era when he was a human.

"I hope you can continue having nice dreams like this one," his voice was a whisper as he spoke.


	6. Return of the Guardians

_Return of the Guardians_

_The girl and Jack had lots of fun in the snow. Panting and flushed from the snowball fight, they lay in the white blanket and made snow angels. __Once done, they looked at their winter work._

_"So you have a good Christmas this year?" asked Jack._

_The girl shrugged. "Mm I guess."_

_"What?" he asked seeing the girl's disappointed look. _

_"Oh. I mean the gifts were great and all. It's just...Santa didn't really bring me what I wanted. Daddy couldn't come home because he had a lot of work to do."_

_"I'm sorry to hear that," Jack said. _

_"You did give Santa my letter, right, Jack?" _

_"Of course," he assured her. He always kept his promise when it came to his best friend. "I made sure he got it personally. And guess what? He read it too." _

_The girl seemed pleased, but there was that uncertainty. Jack could sense she sort of was losing faith. The Guardians feared this all the time since it was their job to keep the children's belief in them. _

_"I wish Santa would just scoop Daddy up and bring him home in a sack," the girl said. "That would be the greatest present."_

_Jack chuckled, recalling that happening to him when he was first chosen as a Guardian. _

_"But I guess Santa can't do anything when it comes to grown ups," said the girl. "But I guess that's OK." _

_Jack saw how disappointed his friend was. He thought of a way to cheer her up._

_"Hey, y'wanna know a little secret?" he whispered enthusiastically. _

_The girl lit up with excited. She loved secrets. _

_"Y'know how your Daddy is out there, protecting people and keeping the world safe?"_

_"Yea."_

_"Well, I do that too."_

_"Y'mean...you're a soldier?" said the girl with a furrowed brow. _

_"Something like that," Jack replied with a smile. "And guess what? Y'know about the other four I told you about: Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Sandman?"_

_"Yea," she answered._

_"They do the same thing as me. We're a group of warriors that protect children like you. We bring hope, wonder, dreams, fun and keeping memories. We're called the Guardians."_

_"Really?" the girl said with wide eyes. This was quite exciting._

_Jack nodded. "Yea."_

_"That's so cool, Jack!" the girl said excited. _

_"Just don't tell anyone though."_

_She nodded. "I won't. I promise. I pinky promise." _

_She and Jack hooked pinkies, squeezing them tightly._

_"Looking forward to Easter then?" asked Jack. _

_The girl looked at Jack, knowing what he had in mind. She shook her head with a smile. "You're going to mess up the Easter Bunny's plans, aren't you, Frostbite?"_

_Another laugh from the impish winter fairy. "You bet! And believe me, what I plan on doing this year is really going to annoy Easter Kangeroo."_

_"Cool! Can't wait for another snowy Easter!" the girl said. "I like looking for eggs in the snow anyway. It's like a colorful treasure hunt." _

_Jack laughed. "Yea. I guess it is." _

* * *

By the next morning Colleen woke, sleepily...her blonde hair a huge mess, dried drool stuck on her mouth. With a sleepy yawn, she got up and headed to the bathroom. She didn't even notice Jack Frost, sitting on the windowsill. He was about to say good morning to her, but missed his chance as she had left for the bathroom. He chuckled as he saw the messy, bedraggled young woman.

"Morning to you too, sleepy head!" he called out to her.

Colleen mumbled...hearing something in her disoriented state.

"Morning Daddy," she said in a little girl voice, scratching her messy hair.

She shut the bathroom door and turned the shower on, dropping her gown and underpants on the floor. Colleen like feeling clean. She always felt better afterward. She really hoped she could go home soon since she didn't have any clean clothes. Plus wearing the same underpants was gross.

While Colleen was showering, Baby Tooth flitted in, greeting Jack with little squeaks. Upon seeing the mini fairy, Jack looked down at her.

"Hey Baby Tooth," he said with a smile, pleased to see her. "Something up?"

Baby Tooth squeaked to indicate the other Guardians were looking for him and were coming. Each of the Big Four arrived: Bunnymund from his tunnels, Toothiana by her wings, North by his sleigh and Sandy by his floating cloud of sand.

"Hey, Jack!" said Toothiana. "What are you doing here?"

"Ya, mate," said Bunnymund. "Isn't this a milit'ry hospital?"

North laughed a bit. "Everyone so serious here. Why would you be here, Jack? There's no children here."

Jack was surprised that they came to see them all gather here. Since they were here, he figured he would explain to them what was going on.

"I was just visiting an old friend. Well, my best friend...do you all remember Colleen O'Shea?" Jack said. "But I was also making sure she was okay."

The Guardians lit up as they were told about the girl who was Jack Frost's best friend.

"Ah, little Sheila," said Bunnymund, using Colleen's nickname.

"Colleen's here?" said Tooth excited. "I remember she had the last of her baby teeth pulled at the dentist. How stubborn they were. She was so brave! And she did take care of her teeth, knowing that father of hers...the lieutenant."

"Yeah. She's in the shower right now," Jack said, pointing to the bathroom that had running water that sounded like the pouring rain on a stormy day.

"She always ask for the same thing every year at Christmas," North reminisced. " 'No presents. Just for Daddy to come home.' "

Sandy sighed. He still remembered the little girl who had the best dreams, always singing his favorite song before drifting off to sleep. While the Big Four were reminiscing about the girl who once believed in them, Jack remembered the event with Pitch yesterday and figured it would be a good idea to tell them.

"Anyway, Pitch was after her," Jack said. "He's...after adults now, mostly those like her since of her experience."

The Big Four stared with wide eyes, unable to believe that the bogeyman had not only returned, but what he was doing.

"Pitch was here?" gasped North.

"Why would...that is strange," said Tooth in disbelief.

"And why go afta' adults?" Bunny wondered, scratching his chin. "I thought they outgrew him...an' us. And what d'you mean by experience?"

"Pitch gave her a nightmare the other night apparently," he said. "So I went to speak with him myself. Pitch told me that kids aren't as easy to scare these days; I guess because of media but adults are with their life experiences. Like hers from being in the military."

"Colleen can see you?" North said surprised.

"I'm glad she can see me again," Jack said with a smile. "I wonder if she'll be able to see you guys too. It'll be nice if she can."

"Really?!" Tooth exclaimed, excited. "That would be wonderful! It's been so long!"

"She actually sees YOU?" said Bunnymund incredulously. "But...but...how?"

"She just believes. Simple. Does it surprise you, Kangaroo?" he replied to Bunnymund.

Meanwhile, Colleen was done showering and went to look for a towel. She must've forgotten to take one in. No way she was wearing the same gown and underpants again. YUCK! All the more reason she desired to go home. But how was she going to get a towel? Aw jeez! Jack Frost was out there and she didn't want him to see her...indecent. But knowing her best friend, he would get her one if she asked. She hoped he wouldn't tease her...with snow...

"Hey, Jack, can you get me a..." she was about to say, opening the door...

Jack heard Colleen's voice call his name and the door open, then looked over to her, curious of what she needed...

...upon opening the door, she found none other than all the Guardians from her childhood standing around in her room. They turned towards her and stared. She froze with wide eyes...there were the Big Four, seeing her stark naked!

"SHIT!" she yelled, frantically covering herself with her arms; her dog tags clinked. "Jesus Christ!"

"Uh...wow, Sheila!" said Bunnymund surprised. "You're..."

"All grown up," finished Tooth uncomfortably, blushing a bit.

Jack Frost blushed after realizing she was naked. Sandy giggled silently, then he and Baby Tooth covered their eyes.

"Tattoos?" North said, seeing them: one on her right bicep of armband of Celtic knots with a blue Claddagh heart, a shamrock on her shoulder, and dog tags on her left ankle. "Naughty girl." he added with a chuckle.

"Uh...can someone hand me a towel, please?" she said slowly, embarrassed, shrinking backwards towards the bathroom.

With a light hop off the sill, Jack Frost went to grab one for Colleen, looking away as he handed it to her.

"Here," he offered, the blush never leaving his face. "We all can explain to you when you're not...naked."

Then stepped away, hoping they won't poke fun at him for blushing like a tomato.

Colleen grabbed the towel quickly, shutting the door. Oh JEEZ! She face palmed herself. The Guardians had seen her in her full glory. Like they needed to see that! She wished she could be able to tap the floor like Bunnymund and disappear into a hole.

"Wow," said Tooth. "That's something you don't see everyday."

"Eh, Old Snowman's redder than a termater in the winta'," Bunny chuckled. "I didn't think a winter spirit blushed, Frosty."

"Oh shush, Kangaroo!" Jack Frost said with a scowl to Bunnymund, about to make it snow over him.

Colleen dried off and came out in a towel, looking at the Guardians with an air of discomfort. The flash of that awkward moment was still lingering in the air.

"Um...OK. Question: what are you all doing here in my room?" she asked.

"They were looking for me apparently," Jack Frost explained to her.

"Oh! I guess...you got your duties," Colleen said to Jack. "And thanks." She blushed, knowing her best friend probably saw her...naked.

"I guess. Not sure what I'm needed for though," Jack Frost said. The red had faded away a bit into pink as time went by, but still somewhat obvious he saw.

"But how is it you can see us now?" asked Tooth curious. "I thought..." She looked sad, recalling that terrible day.

"I'm not sure," she said with a shrug.

"So is it true? Pitch was here?" asked North.

"Again, not sure. But I am most certain that I heard his laugh in my sleep...then the nightmare."

"He admitted he went to see you when I talked to him yesterday," Jack added, remembering it.

After forgetting the horrible event, Pitch had only brought it back. It often replayed in the back of his head. No matter how much he tried to forget, he kept remembering it.

* * *

About two doors down from Colleen's room, Pitch sensed the man named Derkins had horrors that he had seen while he slept. With a smirk, he brought his nightmares. The blacksand formed shapes of men, women, even children...slaughtered...pieces of them everywhere...Derkins thrashed and screamed.

"What a lovely nightmare," he sighed in ecstasy, cupping the Nightmare, stroking it. "Best be on my way, my boy. Sweet dreams."

Pitch disappeared in the shadows with a light laugh. Derkins' eyes flew open, screaming and almost choked a nurse. She pressed the alarm for help.

Colleen and the Guardians heard screaming and alarms coming from down the hall. Upon opening the door and stuck their heads out, she watched the commotion as a soldier was wheeled out. She recognized him: he was screaming madly, being restrained by orderlies, flopping and waving his hands about. They pulled out sedatives, holding him down.

"Oh no," she said in horror...seeing the blacksand form Derkins' nightmare.

"If he's sleeping, then...Pitch." Jack Frost said. His cheeks flushed with anger and his hands rolled up into a fist, soon grabbing his wooden staff. "I'm gonna go check it out. Please. Don't let Colleen be alone in here because if it is Pitch.." He stopped himself and said, "Just don't let anything happen to her."

The Guardians nodded.

Jack Frost had made it to the room Pitch was in, looking for him. He was too late to stop him or even catch him. He caught a glimpse of Pitch as he disappeared into the shadows. He sighed, completely disheartened that he was unable to get there in time. He walked back to Colleen's room, his head hung.

"Sorry Colleen," he mumbled, feeling like a failure.

Then his eyes wandered off and watched Derkins, surprised by how horrible the nightmares can be for them if they wake up the way they do. The medic jabbed a needle into the screaming man's leg and he slowly began to stop thrashing and went into a sedated sleep.

"That's awful," Jack Frost said with a frown. "Pitch needs to be stopped. This isn't good."

Colleen looked sadly at her sedated comrade. "Derkins was a good man," she said. "It's horrible when bad things happen to good people like him."

"What happened t' him?" asked Bunnymund.

She proceeded to tell the Guardians about Derkins: he was in a conflicting country. An entire village was slaughtered by enemy troops: civilian men, women, children...even watched his own comrades die, he refused to leave until help arrived. The Guardians looked horrified as they heard this tale.

"Why wouldn't he leave?" Tooth asked.

Colleen felt her eyes water. "Because a soldier NEVER leaves a fallen comrade. Even if a superior orders you to do so. We make sure they get home...no matter what."

"It sounds like they must be good people if they're willing to do that," commented Jack Frost. "They must be like us then, Guardians but for the world."

"They are," said Colleen.

He was looking at the ground, seeming bothered by this. "We can't let Pitch go on like this, we'll have to stop him somehow."

He couldn't let anyone close to Colleen get hurt either. He cared for her, and if her friends, or comrades, mattered then he would do whatever it took to stop Pitch for her.

"We will help too," said North.

"I'm in," confirmed Tooth.

Baby Tooth squeaked. Sandy confirmed with a silent thumbs up.

Bunnymund rolled his eyes a bit, reluctantly agreed. "I'm in too, Sheila!"

Perking up at hearing each one of the guardians agree to help out, he looked at them with surprise but also thankfulness that was shown across his face with a smile. It was relieving to know that he wouldn't be alone in this battle against Pitch and his games.

"Thanks. Thank you guys." He smiled at them. "Then let's start making sure Pitch doesn't get any further with this."

* * *

The Big Four patrolled the hospital, staying there all night to make sure Pitch didn't return. Jack Frost had stuck by Colleen, letting the others patrol the other hallways. He couldn't bear departing from the side of his long term friend with knowing the risk. If anything happened to her, he would have felt that it was his own fault for not being there to prevent the damage that could be done. Pitch would probably take any second he got to get to her, or that's what Jack thought. Either way, he wanted to stay close. Nothing bad was going to happen to her, so long he stayed where he was, that's what Jack thought.

Colleen sighed as she reminisced about their first meeting. It was the best day of her life. She felt safe...and reassured her comrades were since the Guardians were there. Though no one could see them, she could. She wished she could tell her comrades they were safe without sounding crazy. It would've been cute at eight, but not at 23.

She looked over at Jack. "No sign of Pitch?" she asked.

Jack Frost shook his head. No one had seen him after the first incident earlier today that occured.

"No sight of him at all. I guess he's somewhere else," Jack Frost sighed, wondering where else he could be. Where else could Pitch torture the minds of adults and make their fears feel like they're coming alive through a nightmare? "I just wonder where now."

The winter spirit was bothered by what he had seen...he failed to save the man who was driven half-insane from his nightmare.

"I was too late," he said, feeling tears. "Just as I got there, Pitch vanished into the shadows. And I saw how horrible it was.."

"It's not your fault," Colleen assured, touching his thin shoulder. "You did what you could. You are a Guardian. And like all guardians, we do what we can to save and protect the ones we love."

"I suppose so," Jack Frost responded. It lifted his spirits a bit to hear her comfort. "We have to help them."

Coleen nodded. She recalled many nightmares Pitch gave her as a child. One was of her Daddy coming back in a box...or never coming back at all. After all, she knew there was always that possibility.

She wanted to push that away. The bad stuff. The fears.

"Well, my MRI went well," said Colleen. "They said my concussion is doing well. I might be going home probably tomorrow. I can have some clean clothes for once. I think my uniform got ruined after my accident."

"Really? That's good to know," he said with relief. "Are you excited to head home if you're able to tomorrow?"

He planned to go with her tomorrow if she did end up heading home. Not only to keep her company, but to make sure Pitch doesn't decide to take his place as company. Pitch would be bad company, the type no one wants.

"Of course! It'll be nice to go back to work and do what I like doing. And be able to sleep in my own bed," she said. "Plus I hate sleeping in the hospital. It's noisy and smelly and uncomfortable."

"It does seem uncomfortable here. It must be nice though, having a home you can stay at."

"I'll show you my place if you'd like," she said.

"Give me a grand tour of the place? That'll be great," he said with a smile. He had never really seen her house before, he was looking forward to this. "Maybe it'll end up being one to me as well." he joked.

"It's not a bad place," she said. "It would be hard to find if you flew there since all the houses on a military base are cookie cutters. But I'm sure you'd find me easily. And the great thing about being a drill sargeant is I don't have to move."

"Not like your childhood where you had to move every year, huh? I bet you like that," Jack Frost replied. "Well, once you show me where it is, it'll be easy to find anytime just knowing you'll be in the same place all the time."

Though, ever since he became a Guardian, he really didn't have a home. He explored and brought snow all across the world.

"Indeed!" said Colleen. "It's nice to just settle down for once. The only benefit of moving was seeing new places...and you came along. It made it better."

"I'm sure I did. Bringing the snow everywhere you went," he said with a laugh. He missed those times when she was just a little girl and the two could have fun.

After a beat between the two friends, Colleen decided to ask her friend the question.

"Um...Jack?" she began slowly. "Did you...actually see anything when I came out of the bathroom?" Blush blossomed on her face.

He remembered what he saw and gave a slight nod. "I didn't mean to," he said as he thought back to the moment and began to blush. "I swear."

He had seen her body. It was...a lot. Yet he was distracted with trying not to look but also noticing too much of her body. He did remember some soft feminine curves in her breasts and hips. She was lean with muscle due to time in the Army. Quite beautiful actually.

More blush came to her cheeks. But she just smiled. "It's alright. I knew you didn't mean to, Frostbite."

"I wouldn't invade your privacy on purpose," he said. "I'm sure you know that though."

Colleen smiled appreciatively. Sure, he teased her until he drove her crazy with his ice and snow, but he was a gentleman. She hoped he didn't see the scar on her right breast. She hated seeing that ugly thing. She couldn't wear low cut shirts or dresses because of that. It brought back horrible memories...nightmares...it was the one thing she couldn't let her friend know...


	7. Cold and Warm

_Cold and Warm_

Colleen was ever relieved that she got to go home. The Guardians returned to their places, saying they needed to check up on the children. While the Big Four had left, Jack Frost had stayed back to be with Colleen. He knew the Big Four had it under control so he didn't worry much.

Colleen showed Jack to her home, which was a small house on the base. Exactly as she described it: a cookie cutter. But once inside, it was cozy looking. He enjoyed how it looked on the inside more than the outside.

The floors were hardwood with some rugs in the hallway. Just to the left of the foyer was the living room, which had a brown leather couch, twin grey soft arm chairs, a large TV, a oak and glass coffee table with a few magazines, Army books, and a Waterford crystal jar filled with chocolates. Underneath the table and leather sofa was a blue Persian rug. On the wall above the sofa was the O'Shea family crest. There were pictures in frames.

"So make yourself at home," Colleen said. "I'm gonna get into something more comfy."

"Alright, I will," he replied as he sat down on one of the couches.

While Colleen went to go change, he noticed the pictures and got up to look at them. He saw her family picture along with other pictures from her childhood. He had observed each one, smiling as he saw them. There was her mother, Maria and her grandmother, Aileen. There were none of her father, Lt. Frank. Just only one picture with him: it was the one in his dress uniform when he made lieutenant with her mother and little Colleen, hugging him. There were others of her graduation from high school and basic training along with her achievements that hung on the wall. When he saw these, he felt proud to know she had made it this far.

Colleen went into her room, shucking off her dirty clothes and throwing them in the hamper. She put on a tank top and some sweats, then tied her hair back. She came back in and watched as Jack looked at the pictures, the only family picture there. She sighed. She and her father hadn't spoken since she departed for Basic. Maybe even longer than that. Everything seemed to pass by when one shut the world out.

"You hungry?" she asked. "Or do Guardians even eat? I know North likes cookies and Bunnymund likes carrots."

"We eat. Just for the heck of it. We really don't have to all the time," Jack explained. "But treats are always nice to have." He then stepped away from the photos he was looking at. "I prefer sweets, like candy."

Colleen smirked. "How about a yellow sno-cone?" she joked with a giggle. "Just kidding!"

"Yellow? Isn't that..." Jack Frost then paused and laughed a little. "Good, I'm glad you're just joking about that."

"Sorry if I don't have a lot of sweets. I don't eat very much of them since the Army requires me to stay at a certain weight. But I like to indulge once in a while."

She hummed to think of what she had, leading him into the yellow kitchen. It had linoleum floor tiles and stainless steel fridge, kitchen sink, a microwave, and a dishwasher. A gas stove with a blue tea kettle. Granite countertops. White cabinets. There was some barstools and a kitchen table with chairs near a window.

"I got some peppermint ice cream, caramels, and some dark chocolate mini bars in the Waterford glass jar on the coffee table. Help yourself."

Then the boy made his way over to the fridge. The cold air hit him in the face as he opened the freezer door. The cold didn't bother him at all, however. He then grabbed himself some ice cream.

"Ice cream is one of my favorites," he said.

"Bowls are up there," Colleen said, pointing to a cabinet to above the sink. "Just put the dirty ones in the sink when you're done. Would you like some hot chocolate?"

"Hot chocolate sounds nice too." He agreed to having a cup of it as he got himself some of the ice cream out of the tub and into a bowl.

Colleen went to heat up some water. Standing at the sink to fill up the tea kettle, she scratched the blue heart on her right arm...smiling as it was the same color as Jack's sweater. Aw jeez! She was such a lovesick idiot! She always loved him...her best friend. Though it had been so long since she last saw him...and him coming back was surprising. She missed him.

She watched as Jack put LOTS of ice cream in the bowl.

"Jeez! How is it you stay so thin and be able to eat a lot of sugar?" she joked, shaking her head.

"I don't know, I just stay the same as I am," Jack Frost said.

He enjoyed having as much as he can whenever he could have his hands on sweets like ice cream. Colleen had to admit she was a bit jealous: she wished she could eat all the sweets in the world and never gain weight. Still, she spent all those times at the gym trying to maintain her weight.

She heard the tea kettle whistle and she put the cocoa powder and hot water in the mugs. She handed Jack his mug, which he thanked her. She watched as frost formed on the mug.

"Do you remember that time we did that contest of who could eat ice cream the fastest without getting a headache?" she reminisced.

He smirked as he remembered it. With the cold being unable to bother him, he had it easy eating the frozen treat. He never got brain freeze.

"And didn't I win that one too?" he said cockily. "I bet if we did that challenge again, I'd win again."

Colleen scoffed as she remembered Jack Frost sitting there with a cocky smirk while she was lying on the floor with the worst headache imaginable.

"Being a soldier, you have to deal with all extreme temperatures," she boasted. "I'd say being around you has made my tolerance to the cold much stronger."

"Really?" he said impressed.

Thinking back to all those times they competed at times whether it was a snowball fight or eating ice cream the fastest, she decided to challenge the ice sprite. Prove to him that he wasn't the ONLY one who wasn't bothered by the cold.

"Care to make it cold enough in here for me to prove that it doesn't bother me?" she said with a daring look.

"Alright," he said with a smirk, challenging her. "Let's see how long you can handle my preferred settings of the cold."

Colleen thought for a moment. She had been exposed to all extreme temperatures in training. But Jack's preferred settings of cold would've been like Antarctica. No matter, she was going to prove it to him.

"Bring it, Frostbite!" she challenged with a defiant stare. Considering the risk, she came up with an idea. "I'll use your nickname if it gets to be too much. Y'know like a safe word for 'stop'."

Just as she said that, Jack Frost began to bring the temperature down in the house. It changed to what he preferred for the cold.

"Got it," he said with a nod.

She felt the temperature drop in the house. Immediately, goosebumps rose and she began to shiver. She recalled all the exercises she had to do at basic in the freezing cold with drill sergeants screaming at her, calling her degrading names. How to keep warm. Either keep warm or die. She tucked her hands under her armpits, rubbed her chest. Curled up into a ball. Tucked her feet under her butt.

Jack kept still, his bare feet touching the ground that was felt like pure ice. It almost matched his body temperature as he walked around.

Her breath began to show in a fine white cloud. Her eyes were scrunched. her teeth chattered. She trembled so hard. Ice formed on her eyelashes, brows and hair. Her lips split and began to bleed a little, freezing into scabs. Her skin began to develop frostbite, turning a blue-grey. It hurt a little, but she kept telling herself that pain was weakness leaving the body. She started to go numb and she felt her own body temperature drop. She recalled being so cold when she fell through the ice as a child.

He crouched down beside her, noticing her skin. He knew this wasn't good a sign.

"Do you give up yet?" Jack asked, hoping she would say yes, not for the sake of winning but for how she looked at the time being. He was afraid of what could happen to her if she stayed like this any longer.

Colleen looked at Jack, full of defiance and stubbornness. All she heard was the Warrior Ethos repeating in her mind.

"Never!" she replied with chattering teeth and blue chapped lips quivering. "A soldier NEVER accepts defeat or quits!"

"You're gonna have to give up," he told her, watching the rest of her body freeze. He honestly wondered now what it was like to freeze the way she was.

Whimpering a little, she knew she had to stop. She was so stubborn. She didn't want to quit, knowing that meant she was weak. But Jack had a point. She had to give up eventually...everyone had a limit.

"Frostbite," she said simply, knowing she had reached her limit.

Hearing the keyword to stop, he began to bring the temperatures back up to normal. Worried about Colleen getting hypothermia, he grabbed a blanket off the leather sofa and wrapped it around her.

"Are you OK?" he asked.

"Yea," Colleen said, feeling her body temperature return slowly. "Honestly, the cold doesn't bother me. I have you to thank for being my friend."

He smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm sure all our years together have helped you." After a beat, he had to ask what she felt after that experience. "Hey, what is it like, being cold?"

"There's no easy way to describe it," she said with a shrug. She hummed as she thought of the best way to describe it. "It's like being stabbed by thousands of needles. It hurts a little. But then you go numb. It is said freezing is a painless way to die. I mean those guys on Mount Everest did...and their bodies are perfectly preserved..."

"So that's what the cold feels like," Jack said with a nod in understanding, although he'd never experience the feeling of it. He wouldn't try it either with a thousand needles.

She worried about bothering him about this. "Er, sorry for getting all morbid, Jack."

He shook his head to show it's alright. "Don't worry. I asked so it's fine."

Now it was her turn to wonder if it was the same on his end: he didn't feel the cold, she felt both temperatures.

"Jack, can you feel warmth?" she asked. "Y'know if I shook your hand or gave you a...er...hug for example."

She was about to say kiss, but she didn't want to embarrass him or herself. Blush came as she thought about it: how cold his lips would be...would her tongue stick? She laughed at the thought of that.

Jack was a bit stumped at her question. He was used to feeling cold that he wasn't sure if he had felt warmth before.

"I guess I know the warmth is there," he said with a shrug. "But I don't notice a difference. I could say I still feel cold but even if I was cold, I wouldn't say it's cold to me."

He hoped she understood what he tried to say and how he tried to explain it. Colleen didn't really know what he meant by that. She decided to put this experiment to the test.

"Do you want to see if you can feel it?" asked Colleen. "I mean, you never know unless you try first."

"It's worth a try. So let's go ahead and find out," Jack Frost agreed to it. "What should we do to figure it out? Any ideas?"

She contemplated which she wanted to try first: hug or handshake. After all this was her best friend.

"Would you be more comfortable with a hug or handshake?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't mind hugging you. A handshake...seems odd to do with my best friend."

Colleen blushed a bit. She couldn't remember any time she had been so intimately close with Jack. There was that time he brought her home after the ice skating accident as a child, huddled against his soft sweater...but all she felt was cold after falling in the frigid water.

"A-alright," she said with a bit of a quaver in her voice.

She swallowed, feeling tremors. She wrapped her arms around Jack and pressed him into a tight hug. Her cheek was pressed into his neck. She felt his lithe body beneath his sweater. The cold bit her cheek, making her tremble. He smelled like mingle of her favorite winter things: freshly fallen snow, crisp evergreen trees, and a touch of peppermint.

Still, did he feel her warmth? She was getting cold...not that she minded. Her heart was pounding like a jackhammer and her blood heated a bit.

Jack Frost soon wrapped his arms around the female he had known for a long while. He had to admit, he looked forward to holding her in his arms. He never had except for that one time with the lake incident. But to hold her as an adult was something else, she was older and she wasn't some little kid who would be excited to see him. She was his best friend and this moment felt like it could be precious.

Taking her into his arms, he relaxed a bit as he felt her warmth. It was comfortable to have her there and it felt almost as if he was protecting her from harm by just keeping her there. Eventually, he got comfortable enough to just rest his chin on the top of her head, buring it under the strands of her hair.

"You're warm," he said.

Colleen smiled when he heard the boy answer her question.

Yet, even though he gave her the answer to her question, Jack didn't seem to want to let go. He wanted to keep her body in his arms in order to continue feeling her precious warmth. He didn't know why, but it felt nice. Colleen smelled

Colleen closed her eyes, hearing the aria from_ La Boheme_ that reminded her of Jack Frost: _Che gelida manina_ (what a cold little hand)- where the poor poet, Rodolfo told the seamstress, Mimi about his life: poor but happy. Free like the wind, enjoying the joys of life.

Though he was cold as winter itself, she didn't want to let go either. She felt safe with him. Sighing, she began to realize how much she missed him after all those years...she might've gotten too bold and touched his hair; frozen stiff like when it got wet on a cold day. She felt a tear in her eye, which fell on his neck and froze...it was a mingle of sorrowful regret for telling him she didn't believe anymore so long ago...and joy for him being back.

"I missed you," she whispered.

Opening his eyes slowly as he heard her words, he mumbled, "I missed you too."

He couldn't describe how much he did miss her. Playing with the other kids, it wasn't the same as being with her. It wasn't as fun and the experience was a bit dull. With her, it almost felt like magic.

"Colleen," he spoke her name, deciding to now ask her the truth. He wanted to know for so long and he figured he should ask instead of waiting and hoping she'll tell him. "Can I know what made you decide...to believe in me again?"

He wasn't sure what to expect as an answer. He could feel anxiety flow through his veins as he waited for the answer.

She didn't know how to answer him. All she saw was that awful memory when she was twelve. She couldn't help but wonder what happened after she told him to go away...if he was still there, unseen by her. How much her heart was filled with utter regret. She wanted to tell him she was sorry...she wanted to take it back. She shut people out, froze her heart. And now being with Jack, it was starting to thaw.

Feeling overwhelmed by emotions that she had walled off for so long, she wept into his blue sweater. Her tears soaked the material.

Rubbing the back of her head as he heard her release of emotions, he shushed her and played with the ends of Colleen's hair, putting snowflakes as decorations.

Colleen could barely look at her best friend. Jack Frost moved her head to be looking up at him; her eyes were like a wet evergreen tree, his hand gently pushing her head as it rested against her cheek.

"Don't cry," he said, wiping away her tears. "You don't have to answer me now. I just would like to know."

"I..." she began, thinking of what to say to her long-forgotten childhood friend. "I guess it's because of...um...there have been a few moments when I thought about you after that horrible day. Yet there was a part of me that only heard the Lieutenant's harsh words about growing up. That everyone would think that I'm crazy for having my imaginary friend as I got older."

Sniffling, she told him about the day of her accident: the night before, she heard Pitch's laughter and the nightmare (leaving out the details of what it was about).

"Um..." she continued, tears streaming down. "On the day of the SERE training, when I hit my head, all I remember is falling asleep. Then I was walking in eternal blackness and it was cold and snow falling. I heard a heavenly voice ask me if there was anything I wanted...y'know like to confess before I went to heaven. So I said 'To see Jack Frost again...to tell him I always believed. That I'm sorry with all my heart for what I said.' Then I felt like I was punched in the chest...a few times. And I woke up, seeing my platoon standing over me...and I could've sworn I saw your face among them...and I might've said your name, then passed out. Then I had a dream about you. It was snowing. You asked me if I still believed. So I said 'if you're really here, then kiss my nose and I will believe.' And you did...which actually felt real...too real...then I woke up and there you were in my hospital bed."

She felt stupid. "Sounds dumb and crazy, but that's how I remember it. And...er I may have talked in my sleep at the time...since people have told me that." Blush spread on the girl's face. "But it only happens when a dream is really good."

Colleen face palmed herself after telling her best friend this embarrassing secret. She could imagine Jack laughing at this during her dream at the hospital.

Chuckling a little, he then shook his head after a moment.

"I'm glad you believe me again. I sometimes came and watched you, hoping you'd see me and say something to me." Jack said after hearing her words. "At least I got to watch you grow up."

She looked at his face, memorizing every detail of his face like she did as a kid: his ice-chip blue eyes that sparkled with impishness, his cute nose, a small smatter of freckles on his pale cheeks, his lips. His tousled silver white hair.

Colleen giggled, feeling happier knowing her friend was still there even though she couldn't see him...she recalled a particular memory of where there was an invisible presence that she suspected it was him.

"Funny, I seem to remember that time I went to the winter dance," Colleen said. "These girls from the cheerleading squad played a horrible prank on me. They put glow paint on my dress so it would light up in the dark that said something...er...naughty referring to snow, let's just say. And everyone that was laughing at me slipped on ice or got piffed by snowballs...and I thought I heard a certain impish giggle from somewhere."

He smiled as he recalled that moment and began to laugh a little. He had fun that day when he had done that to the kids who laughed at her.

"Yeah, I wasn't gonna let anyone get away with that," he replied.

"I figured you were always there," she replied with a small giggle.

"Yea, Colleen. Basically, any time I felt you were going to be made fun of or in fear, I did what I could to ensure your safety. I felt like I had to protect you, even if you couldn't see me." He admitted to her as he ruffled some of her hair with a smile.

She had to wonder though about one thing. But she didn't feel comfortable talking about it. Her scar. What happened. She looked at the clock, seeing it was late.

"I'd better get some sleep," she said. "I gotta be at work tomorrow. Feel free to help yourself to more ice cream. My bedroom is down the hall if you need to check up on me."

"Got it." He smiled at her. "Sleep well. I hope Sandman brings you nice dreams tonight." He told her as he gave her another quick hug. Then he placed his cold lips against her nose. Pulling away, he said with a smile, "Just in case you need that reassurance."

She trembled at each touch, from his hands to the kiss on her nose, turning it pink...aside from the cold, just the touch itself. She was used to warm things when it came to that. Blush bloomed on her wet cheeks. She smiled, recalling what she had said as a child: _he doesn't nip my nose, he kisses it._

She went to her bedroom and yawned, falling asleep as she sang _Mister Sandman..._


	8. Escape from the Nightmare King

_Escape from the Nightmare King_

_It was bedtime. The girl had a bath, put on her pajamas and brushed her teeth. She went to her room, eagerly awaiting tonight's bedtime story that her grandmother would tell her. Crayon drawings decorated the walls of her bedroom; they depicted she and her best friend, Jack Frost, with smiling happy faces and having winter fun. _

_The girl's grandmother came in to tell her Irish bedtime stories, which she listened while hugging a small __felt doll of Jack Frost that her grandmother had made her. It had blue button eyes and holding a staff...it looked just like him. Once the story was finished, her grandmother __kissed the girl goodnight, telling her sweet dreams._

_"Gramma, sing 'Mister Sandman'," she begged. "Please! Please!"_

_"Can't we sing another song instead?" her grandmother laughed. "'Tis every night ye want me to sing that." _

_"No! Sandy will only come if you sing that song!" the girl insisted. _

_"Oh, is that the Sandman's name now, is it?"_

_"Yea! And he likes it...and if you sing it, he'll bring me good dreams."_

_The girl's grandmother shook her head. __"Did yer friend, Jack Frost, tell ye that?" she whispered, knowing about the girl's imaginary friend: an impish devil of a boy who always brought trouble, but fun to the girl._

_The girl nodded._

_"Alright then," her grandmother said with a smile. "If that'll get him to bring you good dreams, then I will." _

_She tucked the girl in, looked down at her as she hugged her doll. She stroked her hair and began to sing. "Mister Sandman, bring me a dream..." _

_The girl smiled as she listened to the song. She saw above her grandmother's head the stream of golden dreamsand dance like a ribbon, lighting up the room. It swirled around the girl's head and she drifted off to sleep. Her grandmother looked at the precious child, giving her another kiss goodnight and closed the door. _

_Sandy watched the entire scene, smiling as he heard the song the girl's grandmother sang to her. He sighed as he remembered hearing it the first time it came out...he liked that it was about him. He watched as the golden dreamsand formed the girl's pleasant dreams, watching a smile spread across her face as she cuddled her doll tightly._

_When Sandy floated away to continue his work of bringing pleasant dreams to all the children of the world, a dark silhouette swished across the walls from the half-opened closet. With a soft chuckle, Pitch Black sauntered over towards the sleeping girl, watching her dream._

_Pitch knew everyone's greatest fears...he liked to torment children with nightmares. His favorite children were the unhappiest ones or those who had lots of fears. This little girl was one of his favorites. _

_With a silent smirk, he touched the dreamsand; the figures twitched in pain and the blacksand spread like a plague. __Pitch watched as the girl cringed and whined, clutching her doll tightly, covering her face. The blacksand swirled until it transformed into twisted, corrupted shapes of the girl's worst fears...taking the shape of a horse._

_"Aw!" he simpered, stroking it lovingly. "Such a pretty nightmare you have!" _

_The girl saw her Daddy in his uniform, walking up the path...he was coming home, safe and sound! She ran towards him...then once she got closer, he was covered in blood! Bullet holes all over is torso, his limbs were blown off...then he exploded into a bloody pulpy mess all over the girl. She screamed in horror..._

_The girl's eyes flew open when she awoke from her nightmare and she saw the face of the Nightmare King. The dark spirit. The prince of terrors. __Next to him trotted a small black horse. It was ugly with golden eyes, spikes all over its body, its nostrils flared and its mouth had razor sharp teeth. The mane and tail flowed in streams of black ribbons. The girl laid there, paralyzed with fear as she looked into the face of the man._

_"Boo!" Pitch exclaimed suddenly, his lamp like eyes widened and his spider-like fingers curling inches from the girl's face._

_The black horse reared up with a whinny and charged. Blacksand exploded in her face...the nightmare returned, making the girl scream. Pitch laughed hysterically with sadistic glee._

_The door was flung open and Pitch disappeared into the shadows..._

_"What...what's wrong?" the girl's grandmother said, worried, rushing to her granddaughter's side. _

_She scooped her up in her arms and held the girl in a tight hug, shushing and comforting the crying child, her little body was shaking so hard._

_"What is it, sweetheart?" her grandmother asked._

_"It was Pitch," she whimpered, her tears soaking her grandmother's shirt. "He brought me bad dreams."_

_"Pitch?" her grandmother questioned, raising her eyebrows. This was a new one. _

_"He lives in the closet...under the beds..."_

_"Oh! Do ye mean the P__úca_?"

_"The P__úca?" asked the girl, furrowing her brows. Her grandmother had told her plenty of stories about mythical creatures of Ireland, but she had never heard of. _

___"Yes. He's known as the bogeyman in Ireland. __Don' worry, sweetheart. There's no such thing as the bogeyman."_

_"But I saw him," she said, sniffling. _

_"'Tis nothin' more than a bad dream. And those dreams aren't real. They'll go away when the sun rises. And yer good dreams, they'll stay with ye forever...in yer heart." _

_The girl seemed to be calm. Perhaps it was just a bad dream. _

_"Come downstairs," said her grandmother. "We'll have some cookies and warm milk, alright?" _

_The girl nodded and went downstairs with her doll in tow. She munched up the delicious Irish cookies her grandmother made with a nice glass of milk. It was the best way to forget a bad dream..._

* * *

When Colleen went to bed, Jack went to get himself another bowl of ice cream. He looked outside to see if Sandman was doing his magic yet of giving nice dreams to people. After putting his finished bowl in the sink and got himself his new one, he went to Colleen's bedroom to check up on her. She was sleeping peacefully. He sat on the floor and ate his frozen treat.

He looked at more of Colleen's pictures. He still had questions about what went on after she stopped believing in him. He recalled a few times seeing Colleen as she grew up. How a dark cloud seemed to linger over her. How she shut herself away. She seemed sad...isolated...buried in her books. How he wished he could reach out to her.

Jack Frost's thoughts were cut off as he was alerted by the loud screaming. Dropping his ice cream onto the floor, he quickly stood up...

* * *

Sandy floated over Colleen's house silently, smiling as he listened to that song. He liked that she sang it every night. The golden dreamsand formed shapes of her dream. In the shadows of her closet, Pitch watched the sleeping woman, smiling as she dreamed about her and Jack.

"What an adorable dream," he mocked softly. "So precious! Just one thing missing." After a beat, he whispered, "A touch...of fear..."

He touched the dreamsand, corrupting it...watching Colleen cringe again. Pitch waved his hand with encouraging coos, making the sand swirl until it formed the ugly shapes of Colleen's worst nightmare.

The nightmare appeared again...only this time, it was worse: she felt that she was actually experiencing it. Colleen's eyes flew open...seeing those gold eclipse eyes staring at her. There was the face of the Nightmare King, hovering above her.

"Boo!" Pitch exclaimed.

Colleen gasped, then turned to reach for the can of Mace she kept in the nightstand, only for Pitch to pin her down with shadows. Upon seeing the Mace in the drawer, he tsked, wagging a bony grey finger at her.

"Now, is that the way to treat an old friend?" Pitch said.

"Let me go!" Colleen hissed with a look of defiance. "I'm not scared of you!"

"Really?" the Nightmare King responded with a soft chuckle. "Are you sure about that? Because I don't think so."

"Fuck you, Pitch!" she spat at him.

"Ooh!" he laughed. "You're very crass, Colleen. Didn't your Mummy teach you manners? You need to be punished, you naughty girl."

Pitch used the blacksand and forced Colleen to watch the horrible nightmare again. She whimpered as she watched, hearing the voices from her bad dream. Pitch smiled smugly as he looked down at the scared little girl he loved to afflict with nightmares.

"It's been a while, Colleen," he said. "I've missed our times together since you were always my favorite. You had so many fears. That's what I like about you."

With a wicked, jagged smile, he trailed a finger down Colleen's nose all the way down to her chest. Colleen cringed in disgust as the Nightmare King touched her. If she wasn't pinned down, she would've fought him off. Pitch moved her shirt aside, exposing the scar on her breast. He grinned wickedly, sensing her discomfort. He knew she was trying to block out her fear, but with a few mind games and nightmares, she'd break sooner or later.

"I remember this," Pitch said, trailing his fingertip on the thin, three-inch puckered flesh. "How helpless...how scared you were. Sure, you put on a show, pretending to be brave with your uniform when the reality is you're still that scared little girl."

The nightmare horse trotted next to Pitch, awaiting her master's command. Colleen used every ounce of her will to block out her fear...the memory. She had to resist. Just like at SERE training. Don't give in. Resist!

"You remember?" Pitch said with a sadistic chuckle.

"No," she denied weakly.

Pitch nodded to the Nightmare and it charged. Blacksand exploded in her face, making her cringe and the horror began again. She shut her eyes tightly and kept telling herself it was a bad dream, but it was useless; she could see it...hear it...it wouldn't go away. Pitch laughed as he tortured her with nightmares, feeling her fear growing. It was such a great high. Unable to withstand the horrors she beheld in the nightmare anymore, Colleen screamed loudly.

"Ohhh," Pitch sighed in ecstasy. "That's music to my ears."

"Please stop it!" she whined, tears flooding.

She tried not to cry...but it was useless. In a small series of whimpers, she burst into tears.

"You look so pretty when you're scared," Pitch added, pleased to see the 23-year-old female who called herself a tough Army sergeant was reduced to nothing but a sniveling child.

"COLLEEN!" Jack Frost called out.

He burst into the room, then his eyes switched over to Pitch. He watched as the bogeyman was leaning over the young woman, tormenting her. His eyes watched as Pitch's finger caressed the exposed scar on Colleen's chest. His curiosity grew as to how she got it.

_Another time I'll ask. Better deal with Pitch first, _Jack said to himself.

"Pitch! Leave her alone now!" he shouted, pointing his staff at Pitch.

The Nightmare King frowned. If there was one thing he hated, it was the Guardians interfering with his plans. He was so close to breaking the young woman's spirits with his mind games and nightmares.

"But why?" Pitch sneered with a mocking pout. "You are such a spoilsport, Frost! I was just getting warmed up."

With his staff, blue and white energy bolts of ice exploded towards Pitch, pushing him away from Colleen. Jack rushed over to her side and helped the sobbing, shaking woman out of bed. Hoping that his ice he used against Pitch would hold him off for a bit, he took off running with her out the front door.

"I'm gonna get you far, far away from him, Colleen," Jack said. "Hold on tight for the ride."

Once outside, the wind had soon began to increase its speed as he used it to travel. The two of them were airborne, floating on the wind like snowflakes. Colleen held onto Jack as he flew with the wind, hearing it rush past her ears, burying her face in his sweater; she knew that she was always safe with him. She looked up at her best friend with wet eyes.

"Sorry, Colleen," Jack apologized. "It's not safe here. I'm gonna take you away temporarily."

Colleen nodded her head. "I'll have to tell the Master Sargent that I'm taking a sick day though. I don't want him to wonder why I'm not at work."

"Alright, good. Sorry for suddenly taking you away," he said. "I just felt it was the best solution at the time. I was kinda scared what he would do if I didn't take action anytime soon"

"It's OK," she said. "It's your duty to protect. You do what you have to."

She did wonder where was he taking her. Perhaps to one of the three wonders of the Guardians' homes: North's shop at the North Pole, Tooth's Palace in the mountains Southeast Asia, or Bunnymund's Warren in Australia. She did worry about weighing him down since he was lighter than her. Though he seemed to have no problem carrying her while he flew through the wind. Looking down at her, he smiled. Hopefully going through the wind wasn't too cold for her. Jack Frost looked around at their surroundings.

"Hey. Let's go see North," he suggested. "We're close by. I think you'll like it there."

Colleen smiled. She remembered Jack telling her about Santa's workshop. How she drew Santa in elementary school as Jack had described. The teachers would be a bit uncomfortable or annoyed by this while a few accepted the girl's active imagination. Some of the kids found it either fascinating or weird. Only her grandmother did like hearing her tell her about Santa and his workshop.

"OK," she said. "I can't wait to see it for real this time."

* * *

**an: _The púca (pronounced pooka) is the bogeyman in Irish folklore. It's a ghost or a spirit, often taking shapes of horses, rabbits, or goats...even men. _  
**


	9. Wonders of North

_Wonders of North_

_The third grade class at Burgess Elementary was drawing pictures of Santa Claus. While everyone drew the traditional drawings of Santa, the girl's was different: a HUGE intimidating man with tattoos on his arms that said NAUGHTY and NICE, dressed in a black Russian hat, a white beard, two swords in his hands and huge blue eyes, shadowed by bushy eyebrows._

_"That's an interesting drawing," said Ms. Derkins, looking at the drawing uncomfortably. "But why did you make Santa so scary?"_

_"That's what he really looks like," said the girl. "He may be big and intimidating, but he is also jolly, mysterious, fearless, and caring. But at his center, he's full of wonder."_

_"Uh huh," said Ms. Derkins. "And why is he dressed like that?"_

_"He's a Russian," said the girl._

_Another raise of eyebrows as she looked at the drawing. Soon Ms. Derkins announced storytime and the children left their drawings of Santa on their desk, gathering on the carpet in a half-circle around the teacher. She read a story about Santa Claus. Upon turning to the page that depicted Santa's workshop..._

_"That's wrong!" interrupted the girl._

_The teacher decided to grin and bear it since the child was only eight. She liked that she had an active imagination, but there were times it could be too much._

_"What exactly is wrong about the story?" asked Ms. Derkins._

_"The elves don't make the toys," the girl said. "It's actually the yetis."_

_"Yetis? There are yetis in the North Pole?" Ms. Derkins said with another raised eyebrows._

_The girl nodded. There was a mingle of giggles, mumbles about what a weirdo she was, and grumbles that she interrupted the story. _

_"OK," said Ms. Derkins hesitant, but decided to play along with the child's imagination. "But what do the elves actually do?"_

_"Actually, the elves are stupid. They don't do anything."_

_"And...who told you this?"_

_"Jack Frost," the girl said. _

* * *

At the arrival at North's Workshop, a massive fortress hidden away in an ice canyon, Jack Frost landed gracefully in the snow. It was like a pillow. Smirking, he decided to drop Colleen into the snow along with him. Then he stood up, laughing at a frowning snow-covered Colleen before holding a hand out to her.

"You ass!" she said half-joking, throwing a snowball at him.

"Oh come on, it's just a joke," he said, smiling at her.

"Duh! I know!" she responded with an eyeroll. "Like how long have we been friends?"

"Good point. For a long time!" he said, helping her up to her feet.

"Just don't get my only set of clothes wet, Frostbite," she requested. Then knowing how to embarrass the boy, she added with a small smile. "Otherwise I'm gonna have to be naked again. And I don't think any of the Guardians would like to see...erm...my naughty parts again."

The winter spirit blushed at the idea of her being naked, then said slowly, "Let's just head inside."

It was freezing just like when Jack made it so cold at her place when they did that cold tolerance challenge. Harsh arctic winds bit at her exposed flesh, making her shiver since all she had on was a tank top, her sweatpants and a pair of socks. She tucked her hands under her arms and walked with Jack as he lead the way to the workshop. Though she had a high tolerance for the cold, she still wished she had grabbed some warmer clothes and boots if she had known Jack was taking her to the North Pole. Well, Jack had to get her away from Pitch and they were in a hurry.

"Let's find North. I think he'll be happy to see you here," Jack said.

Colleen nodded. The excitement of actually seeing Santa's workshop built up inside her. Jack had told her all about it when she was small. She would've been the envy of all if she was that child again, telling her classmates she had seen it...then again, they probably would think she was crazy. Although she would prefer to get inside as quickly as possible since it was freezing cold and her socks started to get wet and her feet began to numb.

North's Workshop was nothing like it was depicted in the books or movies she had seen. It looked like a beautiful painting one would see on a Christmas card. It was more like a Russian palace, covered in snow and ice, yellow lights glowed inside. Jack opened the door and they went inside. Colleen was relieved it was warm. She shook some of the snow off of her clothes. Her feet tingled and throbbed from being in the snow and her socks were soaked.

"Man, I used to try to bust into this place for years, but never succeeded until I became a Guardian," Jack commented as he looked around the place, remembering. "The yetis were always trouble."

_Classic Jack Frost. _Colleen thought as she shook her head with a smile when he told her about how he tried to break in.

As they ventured further inside, it became noisy, crowded, and just all around busy. There were toys floated and flew, airplanes that zoomed around a huge floating globe that twinkled like millions of tiny fairy lights on every continent. Yetis were working diligently at tables, making toys with ice sculptures of the toy prototypes. There were elves scattered amongst her feet, the silver bells on their pointy red hats jingled. They stared curiously at the human woman who appeared in their midst.

Colleen couldn't help but stare with wide green eyes, filled with wonder...just like she did as a kid at Christmas as she looked at North's Workshop. After Jack told her about North, the REAL Santa Claus, she didn't really like those other Santas at the mall. Often they were either drunk, smelly, or just phonies. She would've rather met the real deal and told him what she wanted for Christmas.

"Maybe North will give you a nice tour later on," said Jack. "It's a pretty big and nice place too."

Colleen wasn't sure if she felt like touring North's Workshop. Though it was a wonderful place, she still was disturbed by her nightmare and seeing Pitch again. She looked at the giant globe that was lit up with millions of dots of children who believed in them. She wondered if her light was there...though she was an adult.

Soon North appeared just up ahead.

"Jack!" said North jollily. "Good to see you!"

"Hey, North!" Jack said, then decided to ask jokingly. "Am I still on that naughty list?"

Though he wasn't surprised to be way high up on the naughty list for all the pranks he pulled and all the fun he decided to have for his own amusement: letting bullies slip on ice or throw snowballs at them, causing the roads to be so terrible that no one could go anywhere that all they could do was watch the falling snow in the sky. Sometimes he would torment people who used snowblowers by making the wind blow snow over the area they used the machine.

"You still hold record, Jack Frost," said North with a laugh and a head shake.

"Oh good, I plan to keep it that way," Jack chuckled with a mischievous grin.

North's eyes went towards Colleen. He was surprised to see the young woman since no human had ever come to his workshop before.

"Colleen? What are you doing here?" he asked curiously.

"Good to see you again, North," she said with an embarrassed smile. "And this time, I'm dressed. Hope my little indiscretion at the hospital doesn't put me on your naughty list."

North laughed rambunctiously. "Don't worry. I won't put you on naughty list."

"Anyways, we're here because of Pitch," Jack explained. "He came to her again so I took her and ran off. I wasn't sure where to go, but you were the closest."

Upon hearing Pitch had come back, North's face dropped. "He came back again? What happened?"

Colleen looked uncomfortable. She didn't think North needed to hear about her nightmares. Plus she had to get a message to the Master Sergeant somehow. She didn't think there was cell phone reception or a phone anywhere.

"I can tell you more about what happened in your office," said Jack to North upon seeing his serious face.

"Also, is there someway I can contact my Master Sergeant?" she asked. "It's important that I do so. I don't want him to wonder why I'm not at work today."

"This way," North said, leading the way.

Upon entering North's office, the oaken door with five frosted windows shut and locked itself as if by magic, startling Colleen a bit. Upon seeing North's office, she was beyond amazed. Half the room appeared to be covered in ice and snow with little windows that held flickering candles. Ice sculptures stood on a massive mahogany table that stood near a huge bay window with a fireplace in the left corner. More candles decorated the frosted rafters, which had marionettes hanging down. There were shelves that had toys, paint containers and paintbrushes of all sizes. There was a huge chainsaw next to a cherry red toolbox, sketches of toys and ice were various sweets on a shelf nearby North's desk.

"Feel free to sit," he said, gesturing to his desk. There was an ostrich feather quill that sat inside a black inkwell with parchment paper. Colleen sat in the rolling chair, which was three times, maybe more her size that her feet barely touched the ground.

She sat at his desk, writing out her letter, listening to the two Guardians discuss about what happened back at her house with Pitch. It sounded like a bunch of mumbles. She was sure Jack was going to ask about her secret sooner or later. This was her best friend. Yet how would he react when she told him about her scar? That she got it from an incident that was even scarier than what he had seen the SERE training.

"Pitch has gone too far," said North his anger growing.

"Alright," Colleen announced. "It's finished. Any ideas on how to get it to him?"

"Tooth's fairies can deliver letter," North said.

"They are pretty fast for getting all the teeth they do all night," said Jack. "I'll have to take you to Tooth's palace next,"

"Alright," said Colleen. "As long as it gets there safely. It's very important it gets to the Master Sergeant only."

"Your letter will be in good, safe hands, Colleen," North assured.

With a nod, she knew she could trust the Guardians. After all, it's not they would give enemy countries any information since the letter was unclassified. Well, nobody could see them.

"Come," said North. "Let me show you around, Colleen."

Colleen nodded and he gave them a tour of his workshop. Indeed! It was just as Jack had told her so long ago. Noisy, busy...North shouting orders to the yetis, toys were being made by them with ice sculptures of the prototypes. Elves were either standing around, riding on the flying toys, eating tinsel, holding up bulbs to their eyes. There was even two of them: one of them decorated with Christmas lights while another plugged it in, making the decorated one was electrocuted.

"Told you they do the work," said Jack, pointing to the working yetis. Then gestured to the elves. "The elves...not so much."

Upon seeing this sight, she lit up with delight. "I KNEW it!" she exclaimed. "And my teachers and classmates in elementary school DIDN'T believe me."

"Everything I've told you, it's all true," he said with a laugh upon seeing Colleen's reaction. "Proven right here at the workshop."

"Why don't you take a gift, Colleen?" offered North.

"Oh, it's alright," Colleen said modestly.

"Are you sure you don't want any gifts, Colleen?" asked North with a frown. "All your life, you never want anything."

She hummed as she thought of something she wanted. Then a precious thing she once had long ago came to her mind. "There is one thing..." Then she leaned forward towards North's ear to whisper, to which he nodded with a smile.

Seeing her whisper to North, Jack grew curious of what this one thing could be that was other than her father to return. North stepped away after Colleen made her request.

"What'd you ask for?" he said.

"I'm not telling you," Colleen said with a smile. "You'll have to see for yourself. I'm gonna go warm by the fire for a few minutes. My socks are wet."

"Alright," he said.

Colleen pulled off her wet socks and sat down by the fire, listening to the sounds of toys being made. She picked up her dog tags, looking at them and listening to them clink. She traced the blue Claddagh heart on her bicep...thinking about the time she got it. How she felt the stinging and burning. She didn't know what color to make it at first until a flash of Jack's blue sweater came into her mind.

She watched as Jack was messing around with the yetis, making one slip on and the other fall onto the one that slipped. The two weren't so happy with each other after their fall. After messing around with a yeti or two, Jack went and found Colleen. He had wanted to ask her of the scar he had seen on earlier, but he wasn't sure if he should do it here. While it was a busy place with everyone distracted, he felt it may be better to ask another time in a less crowded, more private area.

"Hey Colleen," he said with a wave. "How you liking it here?"

"I love it," she said, giggling after she watched Jack played a prank on the yetis.

Colleen was curious about the yetis. She had read about them in books, saying they were fearsome beasts. She got up and approached the two fallen ones that Jack had pranked. They looked at her with big eyes, curious and filled with wonder. She smiled as she reached a hand towards one and stroked the fur; it felt so soft! They smiled beneath their long mustaches. They were actually gentle giants! She looked at Jack and decided to amuse him by braiding their mustaches...much to their annoyance. Upon noticing what what Colleen was doing, Jack burst into peals of laughter until tears were streaming down his face.

"Nice new look, Phil!" he complimented the yeti. "I'm sure all the other yetis will be dying to follow that knew fashion trend."

Phil the yeti frowned grumpily, shaking his fist threateningly at the cocky little frost imp who had tried breaking in North's shop. Jack laughed a bit and waved his hand at him.

"It's good to see you too again!" he joked with him with a smirk.

North returned a few moments later, holding something very small.

"Here you are," he said, holding out his hand.

There in North's massive palm was a small felt doll of Jack Frost: blue button eyes, messy hair, blue sweater, brown trousers, a staff in its hand. Colleen's eyes welled up as she held it. It was the last thing she had to remember Grandma Aileen. She made it for her when she was small. It was lost so long ago...more like stolen from her. That awful day of what her father did to her: ruining her childhood at such a young age. Making her lose her best friend. She never forgave him for what he did and shut him out of her life. He had tried to apologize and called sometimes, but she never answered him. She wanted nothing to do with him.

Jack looked over Colleen's shoulder to see what was being held out to her in his hand. Noticing the felt doll, his eyes widened.

"Whoa! That's me!" he gasped in amazement. "Where did you get that, North?"

"Let's just say that Colleen was a VERY good girl," he said with a chuckle, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Better than me, huh? Is she on the top of the nice list then?" Jack Frost said.

Another laugh from the Russian. "Well, with you around, Jack Frost, the both of you were on naughty list. Her desire for no gifts put her back on the nice list...it evened things out."

Colleen giggled, thinking of all the mischief they caused when she was young.

Jack laughed as well. "I bet if she didn't have me around, she'll be on the top of that nice list. Sorry, Colleen. But hey, it was fun causing all that havoc we did!"

He missed those days where they did have fun by creating mischief. He wished they could do it again but doubted it could happen.

"Indeed it was!" Colleen reminisced. Then she yawned. "I really could use some sleep though. I don't think I slept since I left home."

"My room is over there," said North, pointing in the direction down the hall.

"Thanks, North," Colleen said. With a naughty smirk, she decided to joke around to see how the other Guardians would react. "C'mon, Jack, let's go...do naughty stuff."

"Then goodnig- wait what?" Jack Frost was caught off guard and surprised. He was also blushing a bit. "You're not serious, are you?"

Colleen rolled her eyes. "Jeez! Calm down, Frostbite. It's just to talk alone with you. I may be a wild child when it comes to...er...that, but I wouldn't do anything that would make you uncomfortable."

"Don't tempt me to put you back on the naughty list, Colleen Siobhan O'Shea," said North.

They walked to North's room side by side; Jack froze an elf that was carrying a tray of cookies with his staff. Colleen looked at her best friend, all red in the face and embarrassed. She wondered if...could he? Since he came back, she developed feelings for her best friend. But she didn't know if he felt that way either...if he could or should. She didn't think it was right since he was a Guardian. As a human, she knew that sex changed people. She didn't want to ruin Jack's innocence. Then, the thought of morals came to her. He was older than her age wise, but he was forever trapped a teenage boy. She couldn't imagine how wrong it would be in the human world, legally. Military law was very strict as well. She would hate to go to the stockade or lose her military status and rank.

Still...no one saw him in her world. But what were the rules and laws in the Guardians' world? She didn't think they allowed this either. Their job was protecting the innocence of children. She'd have to talk to Jack about this...when the time came.

Following her side by side, he went with her to North's room. It was immense, decorated with colors of red, black and gold. A huge canopy bed with red velvet curtains and a down blanket with the frame of a sleigh stood in the middle of the room. The pillows were even huge as well. There was the scent of Christmas in the air: evergreen trees, mistletoe, candy canes, and sugar cookies. Jack sat down on the edge of the bed before falling back with Colleen following as well.

"North has a really comfy bed," he commented.

Colleen sighed. She would do just this after a long day of yelling at young recruits all day at basic training. She looked over at Jack, thinking carefully of the words of what she would say to him. She hoped she wouldn't sound like a stupid lovesick fool...kind of like how Tooth's little mini fairies would fawn over him. She rarely told people she cared about her feelings. Often they were walled off.

"Can I tell you a secret, Jack?" she said a bit serious.

"Yeah, what is it?" he replied, tilting his head.

"It's about my...tattoo," she said, pointing to the armband with the blue Claddagh heart with Celtic knots encircling her bicep.

His eyes moved from her face to the armband. He was curious about it. He had heard Colleen talk about her heritage as a child and had visited Ireland a few times, bringing snow there. He may have seen a thing or two while visiting there.

"Have you ever heard of the old saying 'to wear a heart on one's sleeve'?" Colleen began.

Shaking his head, he looked back up at her and said, "No. What does that mean? I've never heard it before."

"It means that a person likes to express their feelings openly," she said.

"Oh," said Jack. "So, what does it have to do with your tattoo?"

"Well...that's kind of the reason I got it," Colleen began. "In the Irish tradition, the Claddagh heart is a symbol that means friendship, loyalty and love. And the heart is blue because...well, I was sort of, thinking about you at the time when I got it. That's why the heart is blue."

The girl's face flushed even redder as she told her childhood friend this. She wanted to bury her face in the soft comfy bed and hide. _Great! Feckity feck!_ Colleen sighed. _Nice going about telling your best friend that you have feelings for._

"Really? I'm glad.. I'm really glad to know I was on your mind then when you got this," he said with a smile.

He had to admit though, it looked pretty cool on her. It was great to know there was friendship and loyalty between them. Love too. He decided to tease her, catching on to her feelings.

"So...love, huh?" he replied with a smirk.

Seeing that Jack was teasing her about her feelings, she blushed, burying her face in a pillow. She was so embarrassed. This was hard enough...telling her best friend this, showing her sensitive side.

"Jeez! Don't you _ever_ stop teasing me, Frostbite?" she whined. "Whether it was freezing my hair after I washed it, pelting me with snowballs, and blowing icy wind down my neck!"

"Hey, hey," Jack said, trying to excuse his actions. "It's fun! Mostly how you react! Come on, you gotta admit, it's funny sometimes, isn't it?"

Now he knew he could tease her in more ways than just with his ice and snow. Then he pulled her closer to him and away from the pillow, lifting her chin. Jack Frost pressed his lips gently and teasingly against hers for a moment before pulling away. Colleen shut her eyes, taking in a breath of air...feeling the cold lips of the boy she knew for a long time. After breaking away, she bit her lips and lowered her head, her cheeks burned. Jack cupped her cheek, the two of them gazed into their eyes: blues and greens. She was unable to speak. She decided to tease him back. She brushed her nose against his cold one, turning it pink. She laughed to herself as she thought about the saying.

"Now you're really teasing me," she whispered.

"That was part of the plan, to tease you." Jack Frost said.

He placed an arm around her, holding her close to him. He nuzzled her hair, smelling it. His eyes watched hers for a moment before gazing outside.

"Alright, you should try to rest up a little," he said.

Then he pressed his lips against her forehead. He kept his lips there for a moment before pulling away and standing up. Colleen shivered a bit as she felt the coldness of his lips as he placed them on her skin.

"I'll be right here if you need me. I won't let Pitch get to you...ever," he swore solemnly.

Colleen nodded. She was used to sleeping alone and wasn't bothered by it. Yet, her nightmare still disturbed her. She really wanted someone to hold her...just once. Jack was her best friend. After being held by him those few times, it made her feel safe for some reason.

"Jack, could you...just stay here for a few minutes until I fall asleep...and hold me?" she asked.

Jack nodded. "Sure, I could do that for you."

He didn't mind the idea of holding her. In fact, he kind of liked it. Jack climbed back onto the bed, lying next to Colleen and wrapped his arms around her, holding her there. Colleen nestled her head on the frost spirit's shoulder, nuzzling his sweater. It smelled like evergreen trees, winter wind and snow. It was like having a pillow that stayed cool. Colleen splayed a hand on his chest...drifting off to sleep.

"I love you, Jack," she murmured, not aware she even said this.

"I love you too, Colleen," he replied back to her.

He rested his eyes, enjoying the warmth of her body against his cold one. He rubbed her back slowly, breathing contently as his eyes watched the female he held carefully in his arms sleep.


	10. Memories from Teeth

_The girl had lost her first tooth! It had been loose for a while...it finally came out with a painful and a little blood. __She showed her grandmother proudly with a huge gap in her lower jaw._

_"Tuck it under yer pillow," she reminded her._

_"I will," the girl replied._

_She looked at her doll of Jack Frost. Smiling, she tucked in the pocket of the doll's sweater. Then rolled up a note for the Tooth Fairy in hopes she would read it._

_'Dear Tooth. Please bring my Daddy home. That would be the best gift. Lots of love.'_

_After goodnight kisses from her grandmother, the girl decided to stay up and see her. She heard as tap on the window and saw Jack sitting there. The girl lit up with joy when she saw her best friend and opened the window._

_"Jack! I lost my first tooth today!" she whispered excited._

_"That's great!" he said smiling. _

_"Where do the teeth go?" the girl asked. "A kid at school told me that she uses it to build her palace."_

_Jack laughed. "Actually she keeps them and puts them in boxes that belong to you. The teeth seem to have memories in them...good ones."_

_"Really? Even ones with my mom?"_

_He nodded._

* * *

Pitch was pissed off. Jack had frozen him to the wall and ran off with the little O'Shea bitch. He had to become a shadow to get out of the frozen ice block. He returned to his lair underground.

"Damn snow bastard!" Pitch grumbled to his Nightmare. "How dare he spoil my fun! And I was so close too! That O'Shea bitch would've been broken by now if it weren't for Frost!"

The Nightmare whinnied.

No matter. He still was going to spread his fear amongst the adults. Soon as they were reduced to nothing but terrified beings, next would be the children. After all, they were there to assure them that the bogeyman wasn't real. Without parents, children were helpless and vulnerable. Then another Dark Age would emerge.

"Assemble the others," he said to Onyx. "Continue the plan."

Onyx whinnied, galloping away, obeying her master.

Pitch had to teach that Frost brat a lesson. Make his worst nightmare come true.

He looked at his globe, seeing those millions of lights still glowing. Colleen's had to be there somewhere since she was the only adult who still believed. For an adult to believe, it was considered rare. Sure, there were adults with childlike minds. But Colleen was a normal adult. A rare light. She shouldn't be too hard to find. He happened to spy a light that glowed at the North Pole.

"Found you," he said with a smirk.

* * *

Many hours later, Colleen felt much rested. No nightmares or Pitch tormenting her. She stirred, blinking her sleepy eyes. Her pillow was still cool. In her blurry vision, she saw the color blue...something silver sparkled on it. After blinking her eyes a bit, she looked up and saw Jack Frost was still there. He looked like a sleeping angel, so beautiful and serene. She smiled sleepily, resting her chin on his chest, feeling it rise and fall.

Jack never once let go of Colleen during the time they both slept. He couldn't. Even if he wanted to, he didn't seem to have the ability too. A little after she woke up, Jack began to awaken with a stretch and a yawn that released cold breath as he moved his arms a bit around her. Jack smiled down at her, his eyes shutting themselves for a moment before he reopened them.

"Hey," she said. "You stayed."

"Yeah," he replied. "I didn't really want to leave you."

After a sleepy murmur, she wondered if she did anything embarrassing. Jeez, she hated to have done anything like that while Jack Frost was holding her. Her hair probably was a huge mess...she felt a strand in her mouth. Great! She looked ridiculous.

"Did I snore or drool or do anything embarrassing?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and discretely removing the strand of hair out of her mouth.

He took a look at her face, and honestly, didn't really see any drool on her. Or anything else under the category of embarrassing. He decided to tease her a bit.

"What is this? Is that dried drool I see on you?" he said playfully, poking her cheek.

"N-nothing, nothing," said Colleen hurriedly. "Let's just get to Tooth's palace and get my letter to my Master Sargeant."

Jack nodded. "Got it. Let's go then!"

Colleen fixed her hair into a ponytail, then looked at her watch, which was in the timezone of her base. 0400 hours. She would be waking up by now, getting ready for work. Morning reveille was at 0500 hours, waking up her assigned platoon, watching the younger recruits drag themselves out of bed with whines and groans. Then physical training with her shouting. Chow time was about 0700 hours. Inspection for contraband and such. Some more shouting if a recruit didn't fold the bed right. Well, that was a drill sergeant's duty was to discipline the recruits. If she was to become one.

Jack got out of the bed and stretched out his arms. Then he walked over to the door, pushing it open and called out, "Thanks for letting us stay for the night, North!"

"Is no problem," said North. "Going to Tooth's palace? I give you ride in sleigh."

"Really?" Colleen said excited. She had always dreamed of seeing Santa's sleigh as a child...often staying up on Christmas Eve, looking out the window...only to fall asleep...due to Sandy's dreamsand.

"I think Colleen would love riding in the sleigh. Plus it was pretty fun the first time I did. But I think the Kangaroo hated it. Don't you think, North?" Jack Frost asked him.

Colleen tried to compose herself, feeling like that kid inside her. Oh if it had been done as a child, she would be the envy of all...telling kids she met the REAL Santa and rode in his sleigh. She giggled imagining Bunnymund riding in the sleigh.

"I'd be thrilled," Colleen said with calmness.

Afterwards, he turned to face Colleen.

"Ready for a ride to Tooth's palace?" he asked.

"Yea," she replied. "I can't wait to see it. If what you told me, it's sounds like a giant floating storage space and a bank all in one."

"Yes. That's exactly what it is," said Jack. "She still has all my teeth. Maybe she'll have yours too. There are good memories in those teeth."

She smiled a little as she recalled all the times she lost a tooth. She had wondered where they went after they were collected...until Jack told her about Tooth's palace in the mountains of Southeast Asia. Tooth actually didn't collect them herself, but had tiny hummingbird-like Mini Fairies that did, she just directed them. It seemed to make sense. She would've guessed Tooth would've been exhausted doing one job 24/7 for 365 days in over seven continents.

"I always left a letter every time I lost a tooth," Colleen reminisced. "I dunno if Tooth read it or not. But you can probably guess what I always asked."

"You asked for your father?" He wasn't going to be surprised at all if he got it right.

Colleen smiled painfully as he guessed correctly. "Yup. But they always left me a coin, which was fine of course. Anything is better than nothing."

"Did you save up your coins and eventually get yourself something?" He figured he would ask her.

"Certainly," said Colleen. "I used it to visit the O'Shea family home in Ireland where Grandma Aileen grew up. We used to go there in the summer. It's springtime there usually. I don't think it's been used since Mother died."

Jack had also told her the reason why Tooth had collected them: the teeth apparently had the most important memories from childhood. And she protected them. And when the time was needed, she helped them remember.

Colleen had the last of her baby teeth pulled out. The pain and misery! They were so stubborn! Just like her. Just like all the O'Sheas: stubborn, short-tempered Irish military drinkers. HEHE! After they were removed, she remembered holding them in her hand, seeing how small they were. Regretfully, she threw them away in the trash since she had stopped believing at the time.

She wondered if Tooth even bothered to collect those. She had so many questions for Tooth: what happened when a child lost the last of their baby teeth? Did they stop believing? How about those of a nonbeliever? Did they still keep them? And those who grew up?

"Do you think Tooth has all the teeth of my comrades even though they don't believe anymore?" she wondered aloud.

Jack nodded as he recalled the collection he once saw of all the teeth at the palace: so many containers that had teeth filling it up, each one containing memories of their childhood.

"It's a great way to also relive your childhood," he said with a smile. "The teeth seem to have memories in them. Good ones. I remember when I got to see mine from before I became a Guardian."

Colleen wondered what childhood memories were there. She hardly thought about the past, preferring to bury it and never think of it again. Yet, there were happy memories that she would like to see: ones with her mother. Ones with Grandma Aileen who had passed away when Colleen was only twelve. It had been years since she last remembered either of these women in her life.

"I guess I'd love to see my memories again," she said. "Especially my mother."

"You hardly talked about your mom," said Jack. "Why's that?"

Colleen shrugged. "She died when I was seven. I don't remember very much of her...maybe some pieces here and there. I don't even remember her voice, her laugh...and the way she smiled."

"You have photos," said Jack.

Colleen nodded. "True. Still, it's not just her smile...it's the way she did it."

"I'm sure Tooth would love to see you and wouldn't mind if you went and revisited through those memories," Jack said.

"You think I could see yours, Jack? I'd love to see what you were like in the past. But I'm sure you're just the same then as now."

Shrugging, he said, "I suppose you could if you want to."

"Thanks for sticking around." Then gave him a small peck on his speckled pale cheek.

"Oh! It's no problem," he answered, blushing.

"Well, what we waiting for?" North said. "Let's go! To sleigh!"

Jack Frost nodded. He then reached out with his cold, pale hand to hers. His hand wrapped around hers as he then looked over and smiled to her. "Come on. I betcha I can get you to his sleigh before he can get there!"

Jack Frost began to run off in the direction he knew North's sleigh was, going through the halls as he pulled her along. The warmth of her hand was wonderful in his cold one and he honestly didn't want to let go. Colleen smiled and took his hand. She interlaced her fingers with his, feeling the cold. Goosebumps formed on her.

"You must have a very warm heart," Colleen whispered in his ear.

"A warm heart inside a cold body like mine?" He chuckled. "Who knows? Maybe it is warm."

Colleen smiled. "It is, Jack. Why do you think you're the Guardian of Fun?"

"Because I can do this," he said as he had some snow form in his hand.

Then glancing over to North, with a childish, playful smirk, he tossed it at him. He was certain that added more Naughty list points. North shouted in Russian, which sounded like cursing. He wiped the snow off with a scowl. The two of them laughed, enjoying the reaction they got from North.

He then opened up the door to North's sleigh and pulled her in. "In here. It's awesome to ride."

Colleen stared as soon as she saw the sleigh. The reindeer nickered like horses, had leather reins with silver bells. Red was the dominant color of the sleigh.

"Holy...shit!" she gasped. "That...is...awesome!"

"Well let's get to Tooth Palace," said North, mounting in.

They climbed in and North flicked the reins and the reindeer took off towards the tunnel. It descended like a roller coaster, making Colleen scream loudly with excitement, putting her hands in the air as they did loopity-loops.

Soon there was a light at the end of the tunnel...Colleen didn't see anything and shut her eyes tightly, grabbing Jack's hand. Feeling her hand, he held hers as he chuckled, looking at her face. There was a rush of wind, she opened her eyes and saw they were flying! Her face had the widest smile.

"This is so amazing! I don't know whether to...shit or go blind," she laughed.

"I know, right?!" Jack Frost replied with exact excitement, almost like the first time he saw it. No matter, he enjoyed riding in this sleigh of his.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" He asked her as he released holding her hand and stood up.

"Indeed I am," Colleen said.

"Just make sure you don't get blown away by the wind, got it?"

"What are you saying, Frostbite?" Colleen scoffed with amusement. "That I'm a delicate snowflake that'll get blown away?"

Looking down at her with a smirk, he said, "Maybe. I don't think we want you blowing away and losing you. That would be awful."

With a bold smirk, she stood up...the wind was blowing hard and fast. Colleen staggered a bit...but kept her balance.

"Ha!" she said. "See? I'm as sturdy as a..."

A HUGE gust of wind knocked her over...she grabbed the first thing: Jack...tumbling into him.

"Ow!" she exclaimed. She saw she and her best friend were in a sort-of compromising position. Colleen blushed redder than North's robes.

"Guess I shouldn't be so boastful," she said. "Are you hurt?"

"What was that again? Sturdy as a what?" He said with a chuckle as he caught her into his arms, blushing a bit. "Not like a rock, that's for sure, Colleen."

"I was gonna say...as a post or a tree," she replied, embarrassed. "Thanks for catching me though."

"A tree or post? I guess those would work too." Jack chuckled. "No problem, Colleen. Couldn't bear the idea of losing you- I mean it would be crazy if you went flying off of this sleigh. I'd end up having to catch you!" Not that he minded the idea of going off and catching her.

"What is..." North said, then seeing the two of them. Then shook his head with a smile. "Alright, behave yourselves. Don't tempt me to add more naughty list points."

"Cmon, North," Colleen said. "It was an accident."

Jack looked over to North and smirked. "Nothing, North. Don't worry! Just give them to me then North, Colleen doesn't deserve to to be put on that naughty list. Besides, I'm King of the Naughty List."

Another amused chuckle from North. Then reached into his pocket and pulled out his snow globe, which showed Tooth's palace...then threw it until it became a hole in the sky. They were sucked through like a vortex.

"Wow!" Colleen said. "So THAT'S how you get around so fast once a year, North. It all makes sense now."

North chuckled.

They arrived at Tooth's palace. As they got closer, the palace appeared and there was flitting of gossamer hummingbird wings past them. Mini fairies were carrying teeth and or coins.

The palace was just like a huge Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, buried in the heart of the mountains. It was just like a giant beehive with mini fairies, Tooth was giving militaristic commands of where to search for teeth. North stopped the sled, parking it where Tooth was. She turned her attention to the arrival of the guests. She was a bit surprised to see Colleen since a human had never come to her palace.

"Oh hello!" said Tooth warmly, her violet eyes glittered. "Welcome to my palace. What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you can deliver a message to my Master Sargent on my base," said Colleen. "Your fairies seem to be able to be the best."

"Certainly," said Tooth.

She called up a few fairies and Colleen handed them the letter, which they flitted off. She drew a picture of the Master Sergeant's rank on the letter so they would know what he looked like.

"Could you bring Colleen's tooth box as well as mine when you have a chance?" asked Jack.

"Certainly. I'll be with you momentarily," said Tooth. "Feel free to make yourselves comfy. There's a tree and a small pond at the bottom."

Jack held Colleen's hand and they floated down towards the bottom. Colleen looked around, hearing the endless flitting of fairy wings, clinks of coins and rattling of teeth as they were placed in boxes. She looked up...Jack sat next to her, freezing the water with his toe.

More Mini Fairies flitted over towards Jack, fawning over him and squeaking like fangirls. Some stared dreamily at him, even swooned and fainted.

"Alright, girls," said Tooth in a motherly tone. "That's enough."

Jack chuckled and looked at the various fairies that were squeaking and overjoyed to see them.

"Nah, I don't mind at all," he said to Tooth as he then smiled.

Looks like you got a fan club, eh, Frostbite?" Colleen said amused.

"Here you go!" said Tooth, holding Colleen's tooth box, which contained Colleen's face as a child painted on the side.

Colleen looked for a moment at that face...she didn't recognize it...she didn't feel like that little girl. She still felt uncomfortable. She would get to see her memories. As Jack had told her it was every important memory inside the teeth...did that mean...THAT memory was there? The most painful one she wished to forget. There were too many of them after that one.

Jack went on over to Colleen's side. A part of him was excited to see her be able to revisit those memories: the good ones they spent together.

Colleen took a deep breath, stroking the diamond patterns on the surface. She had to face her past sooner or later. After all, it was part of her...she reached for the blue diamond in the center with a trembling hand...she felt sick...

"I...I can't," she said in a shaky voice.

Tooth and Jack looked at each other, both caught by surprise that the young woman unable to do so.

"What's wrong, Colleen?" he asked, looking concerned as his eyes looked into hers, placing his hand on top of hers.

Colleen's throat tightened and tears began to form. "I...just can't."

"But I thought you wanted to see your memories, Colleen," Tooth said, touching her shoulder; gossamer wings flitted. "You have lots of happy memories. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"You don't understand," Colleen said. "There's a memory I don't want to see. And I know it's there...I'm scared."

"You're going to have to face your past one day or another," said Tooth. "You can't just bury it away and forget it."

Colleen took heaving breaths, shaking so hard. Exhaling slowly, she looked at the box...touched the blue diamond, which clicked...and there in a purple velvet lining were her baby teeth, which glowed with an intense light. Memories washed over her...showing her her childhood...

She saw her mother, her Grandma Aileen...her Daddy when he was once happy...her first meeting Jack Frost, the two of them playing together, getting into mischief, having lots of winter fun.

Then came the memory she feared the most...


End file.
